How I Met You
by The Stare-Master
Summary: Ichigo is a bartender at the famed nightclub, Seireitei. When he meets singer Kuchiki Rukia, he's immediately drawn to her. As they get to know each other, they must share uncomfortable truths about their pasts that bring them closer together. And together, they fall in love.
1. Chapter 1

**Important(ish): I am rewriting this story; it may be renamed _On Life, Love, and Tequila_ or it may have the same title. Stay tuned.**

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"Owy! Why must you hurt me, Ichigo?" Urahara whined, rubbing his shin. Ichigo just grimaced and crossed his arms.

"Let me think. Oh, yes! Maybe it's the fact that you call me Strawberry _every single fuckin' day._" Ichigo retorted, tapping his foot on the polished linoleum floor.  
"I've already got my wife on my case for—" Urahara got no further than that because the door to the back of the night club flew open and a livid purple-haired woman flew out, fists up.

"How dare you? First you have the nerve to get me pregnant, and then you tell Ichigo so he'll stop hurting you? I think you're due for a little lesson." Ichigo smirked and turned away as Yoruichi pummeled her husband, letting her little fists of fury do some damage. Ah, what an interesting couple they were. Ichigo scratched the back of his head and sidled back to the bar, hoping that his part in the conversation…and now fight…was done for now.

_Seireitei_ was a renowned night-club in the city of Karakura. Kurosaki Ichigo was lucky enough to work there as the bartender. He had been hired after attending high school, and worked on weekends, somehow managing university also. A few of his high school friends also worked with him—Inoue Orihime and, much to her dismay, Arisawa Tatsuki, working as waitresses, Ishida Uryū working as a finance balancer and general band and VIP manager, and Sado Yasutora, also called "Chad", working as a bouncer.

The club was a new, polished place with a crisp air about it. The floors were white and black linoleum, and the walls were very bright, reflective metal that worked wonders with the disco ball centered in the large room. There was a stage in one corner of the room for the various bands that would come to play. The stools were also metal, with soft red leather cushions. The barroom looked very much like a scene from the future, especially when the only illumination was coming from strobe lights hitting the disco ball and from five dim spotlights pointed on the band stage.

The bar was an elegant glass affair, consisting of glass stools for VIPs, a glass counter so that one could see all of the drinks kept under, and little hanging glass lights that would only be illuminated if there was someone sitting under them. The overall effect was really quite stunning.

A few minutes after Yoruichi had finished pounding her husband, she returned to their living quarters in back and over the bar. Urahara winced at his developing headache throbbing through his brain and touched a rather large lump on his head gingerly, making a rather comical face. "Kisuke—may I call you Kisuke?" Ichigo asked, interrupting himself.

"No! I'm your boss! You call me Urahara. Got it?"

"Whatever. Anyway, Kisuke, I was just wondering when the gang is gonna get here. Isn't it a bit late? The bar opens in, uh, about ten minutes." Indeed he was right. The sky was painted crimson and fuchsia, lightened only by the abundance of city lights all around. The club opened at sunset every night and stayed open until two in the morning. While most of the customers were well-manicured, wealthy business people there would always be one or two street bums or gangsters staggering in. That was where Chad came in. He was capable of scaring armed thugs just by crossing his arms and flexing his massive biceps.

Urahara yawned and adjusted his green and white striped fedora before answering. "Oh, don't worry. They'll get here any minute." The aforementioned words were said with perfect timing; Tatsuki came dashing in to the club, chased by a red-haired man.

"RENJI! I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK IT OFF! THIS IS GOING TOO FAR!" _Must be Tatsuki's boyfriend,_ Ichigo thought amusedly. He ran in, knocking over Urahara in the process, and finally catching up to Tatsuki, who had stopped for air. He attempted to hug her, but instead got elbowed in the face.

"Ouch." He said, holding his face.

"Renji…you may want to leave before the boss gets up." Said a deep voice. Ichigo looked to the door and saw Chad standing at the threshold, arms crossed. Renji looked up and grinned in embarrassment. With the extensive tattoos on his forehead, the impression was that of a scary, maniacal clown.

"Riiight. Leaving! Only problem is that I'll be coming back!" Before Tatsuki could argue or any of them could ask what he meant, Renji stole a kiss from her and speeded passed Chad, stirring a bit of dust just outside the door. Chad's lips twitched up in a slight smile before returning to their normal passiveness. He bent down and helped Urahara up, silently amused at the owner's grumbling. Poor guy seemed to be getting hurt somehow every day. Usually it had to do with his wife or Ichigo, though spontaneous incidents like the past one could happen every now and then.

"Great. Now you two are here, but where's Orihime and Ishida?" Ichigo said, a bit irritated. The place was so busy at night that the club just couldn't afford to have only one waitress. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, only broken every so often when Urahara would grumble something under his breath, Orihime ran through the door, panting.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Urahara-san!" She gushed, looked at him with puppy eyes. The boss just laughed and patted her on the head.

"No worries, Inoue. Please change into your uniform now, all of you. We may have to open without Ishida, which is bothersome because he said something about getting a legendary bend—" Once again, the man's timing was impeccable. Ishida came rushing full speed through the door, doing an unintended somersault and landing on his knees.

"Sorry I'm late, Boss. I had some last minute complications. The band isn't going to be able to play because the drummer got stuck in a tree—I don't want to know how or why—and the band doesn't have a backup player. I quickly found and alternate band. They still have to make a name for themselves in the city, but they have potential, so I decided to hire them for tonight." He explained, quickly standing and dusting off nonexistent dirt from his white pants.

Urahara scratched his stubble as he thought. "Good thinking on your part, Ishida. Have you told the band to go around back to get ready?" A sudden crash and swearing was heard from the back room. "Ah…I take it they're already here, then." Ishida nodded sheepishly, pushing his glasses up on his pale face. Ichigo raised an eyebrow but said nothing, going to the second back room to change into his red bartender's attire. Chad followed him silently. Ishida quickly opened the door, eager to escape from the more than slightly nutty owner.

By the time the three men had changed and opened the door again, Tatsuki and Orihime were already discussing who would serve whom. Ishida quickly went up to the corner band stage and began making adjustments to the drums, guitar, base, and various microphones. Chad took up his position immediately to the left of the door, somehow able to make himself inconspicuous despite his large frame. Ichigo walked behind the bar counter, taking the most commonly used alcohols out of their place on the counter shelves and placing them on top of the counter where he would have easy access to them.

Just when everything was getting settled and Urahara was about to turn on the strobe lights, a little girl whisked by him and jumped onto Chad, hugging him. She wore a pink dress with a dark blue cape and had blonde, curly pigtails. Ichigo was shocked, but only raised an eyebrow at this unusual sight. Chad gently placed the girl on the floor, color staining his cheeks. "Uh, Ririn…what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay with Nova." The girl smiled deviously and tugged on his pants leg.

"Nova wouldn't give me candy, so I decided to come and stay with you!" The girl named Ririn said as if that should explain everything.

"Ririn, you know that this club is only for people of twenty-one years or older. You have to go back home. Tell Nova that I give you permission to eat a bit of candy. A _bit_." Ririn grinned, hugged his leg—for that was the only part of him she could reach—and dashed out of the club door again. _Damn. People are doing a hell of a lot of running today…_Ichigo thought. Orihime asked the question that had gone unspoken in all of their minds for the past few minutes.

"Chad, who was that? I've never seen her before." Chad looked at his shoes and cleared his throat.

"That would be my younger sister. Not blood relative, but I call her my sister."

"Really? You never mentioned that to us before. Who's Nova, too?" Urahara said, smiling slyly in that freaky way of his. Chad cleared his throat again but said nothing. This matter was not open to discussion. After a moment of awkward silence, Urahara shrugged and turned off the house lights without further question, flicking on the strobe lights that made the disco ball reflect onto the metallic walls. As Urahara flicked a last switch, the store was officially open.

Although those indoors could not see, they knew that the sign above the club's entrance was now illuminated. There would be a crowd stampeding in here at any given moment. Ishida quickly opened the door to the first back room and said something to the band—probably to hurry up and get on stage. The first customers started trickling in—the first people were usually the regulars, so Urahara stood by the door and greeted them for a while before heading to his home in the back.

Three well-dressed men and one woman took seats at the bar—the VIPs of the night. It was Ichigo's responsibility to make sure that they above everyone else had what they needed first. Orihime and Tatsuki started to take orders around the room while Chad confronted a thug trying to get in. While the club was normal looking enough on the outside, it was only for the elite in reality. Ichigo poured drinks endlessly, handing them to the two women. Although the job was very tedious, Ichigo enjoyed the music and the people.

After the bar was full and everyone was growing impatient for the band to play, four people seemed to rise from the floor of the stage. Everyone started hooting and hollering—many were already fairly drunk. As Ichigo saw the members of the band, he understood Renji's words—he was the lead guitarist of the group. He wore black skinny jeans, Converse high tops and a nondescript black hoodie with white designs that matched his tattoos. On drums was a well endowed woman with flowing strawberry-blonde hair. She was dressed in a skimpy halter top that glittered and said in black "YO", black skinny jeans and—again—black high tops. The bass player was a blonde man with strange hair. He, in fact, wasn't wearing any shirt. Instead, his chest was painted gold. He wore the seemingly "trademark" jeans and Converse.

As Ichigo took in the lead singer, though, his breath caught in his throat. She had raven hair, interesting in style. She wore a shimmering dress that reminded him immediately of a waterfall—yes, the outfit was made entirely of glass. Even though the woman was rather short, the dress showed her legs off nicely. That was only the beginning, though. They hadn't started singing yet.

The woman leaned into her microphone and said in a beautiful, tinkling voice, "Okay, guys! We're really glad to be here. We call ourselves the Time. This first song is called "Missing You". Enjoy!" With that they launched into the most beautiful song Ichigo had ever heard. The drums were played softly, using lots of cymbal. The base played a mysterious rhythm that brought the player's fingers all over the strings. Renji was playing a soft tune, strumming his guitar as a country star would. Then the woman joined in singing.

Ichigo was entranced by her voice, low but even. The tune was unlike any other he'd heard before. The talking in the bar quickly died down so that everyone could listen. Even Tatsuki and Orihime had stopped walking momentarily, watching the band. By now all eyes were on the singer, absolutely enchanted by her voice. _And to think that this was a last-minute replacement…_Ichigo thought, ever glad that the other band didn't come. The drummer was vocalizing, making soft sounds into her microphone. At this point even Yoruichi and Urahara had joined the crowd to listen. More people were crowding into the bar from the street—still qualified people, but more than the bar had ever had to face.

As the music faded away, the room was silent. Then everyone erupted into both drunken and sane cheering, crowding around the stage to get a high-five from someone in the band. Ichigo stood where he was, taking in the woman. She was blushing and shaking hands modestly, looking at her band. They, on the other hand, were grinning like maniacs and fist pumping. Either way, everyone loved them.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, save the Time. Every conversation was now about the band. People made endless speculations of how they came to be so amazing and how they got started and where the amazing inspiration came from. Ichigo thought of this as gossip, so stayed away from all of it—which was nearly impossible since the VIPs were talking up a storm with him…or _at_ him.

Urahara was overjoyed by all of the customers and stayed for the whole night, milling about and mingling with various people. Yoruichi went back, but only after a few more of the Time's jaw dropping songs. Orihime and Tatsuki quickly got over their shock and went back to serving people their drinks. After all, it was their job to not get involved. Ishida, pleased with himself, stood by the stage for the entire time.

Sometime after one, Chad joined Ichigo behind the bar to pour drinks since the traffic out was much heavier than the traffic in. He said nothing as he handed glasses of champagne, schnapps, and sake to the VIPs and the two women serving. That was one of the main reasons the two men got along: they both liked to listen and both disliked talking or getting involved.

Some more people left, causing the bar to become quieter. The Time had stopped playing and had returned to a back room to change and put away their instruments. The VIPs eventually left, making a big scene. Urahara, being the clever businessman that he was, took it all in stride and was playing the role of "gracious host", leaving the other five to clean up. Ishida was busy thanking the band and getting the microphones put away. Tatsuki and Orihime wiped off the tables while Chad put the liquors away. Ichigo, though, wasn't helping. He wanted to go talk to the lead singer.

When he saw that Urahara was engaged in a deep conversation with one of the shallow VIPs, he quickly walked discreetly to the back room's door and slipped inside, unnoticed. Ishida was having an animated conversation with the drummer, but stopped when he saw Ichigo enter the room. "Hey, Kurosaki. Let me introduce you. This here is Rangiku Matsumoto. You already know that she's the drummer. On bass is Izuru Kira. You already know Renji, of course. And the lead singer is…Kuchiki Rukia." At her name, the woman walked out from behind the divider for changing, smiling, and stuck out her hand to the orange-haired man.

"Nice to meet you…?" She said, waiting for a full name.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Pleased to meet you, Kuchiki Rukia."

"The pleasure is mine. By the way, this bar you work at is one hell of a place." Ichigo grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets. Rukia was wearing a fluttery blue halter top that looked very similar to paper Mache, only wasn't quite as see-through. She had on the trademark jeans and Converse now, also. Ichigo sucked in his breath at this sight. She was absolutely stunning. He had to talk, though. He couldn't just stare at her all night.

"I loved your songs. They were all great. Where did you come up with stuff like that?" Rukia smiled up at him, a light pink tinting her cheeks.

"I love to sing, and Rangiku, Renji, and Kira are three of my closest friends. Since we all have musical talent, we decided to try our luck as a band. I take it you know Renji?" Rukia said, looking at Renji grinning at Ichigo. Ichigo laughed.

"Now I do. He's Tatsuki's boyfriend. Tatsuki is the black-haired waitress." Renji gave Rukia the thumbs up sign in indication that Ichigo was right on target. Rukia nodded her head in understanding.

"Rukia, we better pack our stuff up in the car. We'll meet you out there in a few. 'Kay?" Kira asked, pulling a sweatshirt over his head.

"Of course." The other three band members started lugging their equipment out the back door and to their car. Ishida waved at Ichigo and went out the other door, back into the bar. That left Rukia and Ichigo alone. "So, Kurosaki-san—"

"Ichigo. Call me Ichigo."

"Alright then…Ichigo. How did you come to work at a place like this? It must be hard to get a job at the city's finest night club." Ichigo ran his hands through his orange hair and chuckled.

"Well, I suppose it is, but me and the crew have been working here since the end of high school. I'm a family friend of his, and so are the others, so we kind of just started working here when it opened. Then the club got famous, and we still got to work here."

"Huh. That's very interesting. I guess I just thought of this place as always being famous from the moment it opened."

"Far from it. For the first year or so, this place was really like any other bar you'd find. We didn't have all of the cool décor or anything. After the place got a little more popular, we upgraded to the futuristic theme, and all of a sudden this was the most popular place in the city." Rukia cocked her head in interest. Most people thought that _Seireitei_ had always been an upscale night club for rich people. That hadn't been entirely true, though—as Ichigo had just revealed it.

"Wow. Well, I'd better be going or else my friends will think something has happened. I hope I'll see you soon!" Rukia said, smiling brightly. Ichigo smiled back—not a smirk, but a genuine smile. He liked this woman.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll see you again. With the performance you put on tonight, the boss will definitely be asking for you to come back."

"Thank you. Until then." They shook hands again, and then Rukia was gone. Ichigo looked at the door, thinking about their conversation. Even though he had just met this woman, he was interested in her. She was kind, polite, funny, and not to mention one hell of a singer.

He shuffled back into the barroom, lost in his thoughts. Tatsuki, noticing that look, made the best of a golden opportunity for teasing. "Hey, Kurosaki. Something happen in there? After all, you two _were_ alone…" At this, Ichigo snapped out of his daze and glared at Tatsuki, fists clenching.

"No, Arisawa. Nothing, I repeat, _nothing,_ happened besides us talking." Ichigo retorted through gritted teeth. Urahara, standing by the front door, chuckled lightly.

"All right, you ruffians. Get gone. I'll see you tomorrow. I wonder if we could get that band again on Sunday…" Muttering to himself again, Urahara opened the back door and vanished back into his living quarters. Ichigo was the first one out the front door, eager to get away from all of the lunacy of his friends.

That night, all the way home and even when he was in bed, Ichigo thought about Rukia and her new band. _Wow. They're really amazing. Rukia is so interesting—I hope I can talk to her soon…_He thought sleepily. Little did he know, across the city and in her own apartment, Rukia was thinking the same thing about him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Tell me everything, Rukia! Tell it now!" Rangiku gushed, holding Rukia's shoulders excitedly. Rukia scoffed and looked away, rolling her eyes. Since the conversation with Ichigo had gotten a bit long, Rangiku took an entirely differently meaning. Rukia placed her hands on Rangiku's and pushed them off of her shoulders.

"We talked. We talked about the band and about the bar. Then I left. There's nothing more to it." Rukia said firmly, hands on hips. Rangiku sighed in disappointment and flopped down on her bed. The band shared an apartment—Rangiku and Rukia in one room, Kira and Renji in another with a small living room and adjoining kitchen. While the apartment was slightly cramped with four people living in it, the furnishings were quite lavish; the band lived comfortably.

The apartment consisted of the aforementioned rooms; the two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen; as well as a sizable bathroom and a spare room. The spare room had been multi-purpose before the apartment had been purchased, but the four companions had decorated the walls with posters and filled the space with drums, two guitars, a few microphones, and a recording machine for band practice. Unfortunately, though, they'd had to soundproof the room after the neighbors had complained to some of their more loud songs.

Rukia sat down on her bed, smoothing the Chappy sheets—it was a strange obsession for a twenty-year-old woman, but she had adored the cute floppy-eared creatures since she was a little girl. Rangiku snorted conspicuously and coughed into her hand. Rukia glared at her and shifted her position. "Admit it, Kuchiki. Love at first sight!" Rukia growled softly in a very uncharacteristic matter. Rangiku also noticed that she was blushing.

"Not even close! We exchanged words—stories—and are nothing more than acquaintances. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed before I start yelling and lose my voice." With that, Rukia turned off the lights and climbed under her thick blanket, not caring in the slightest that she was still fully clothed with shoes on. Rangiku shook her head in amusement and followed suit, listening to the sound of Kira and Renji arguing in the next room over. It sounded as if they were fighting over who was better at driving while drunk. _Unfortunately,_ Rangiku thought tiredly, _they've both had extensive experience in drunk driving. Those idiots…_With those thoughts still running through her head, she fell asleep. It was around four in the morning.

The four members of the band had night lives. For the most part they would wake up at one in the afternoon and fell asleep at any time between four and six. While they let most of Karakura buzz about during the day, they would sleep. When the afternoon came, they would perform at nightclubs and practice together. Their lives were taken up by music. Rukia had, in fact, already gone to college at and American University called Julliard and graduated with the title of Valedictorian.

Rukia had and had skipped two years of school, going to college at sixteen. With her spotless straight-A record and artistic and vocal talent, Rukia had been accepting readily. While there, she took classes in singing, piano, guitar, forming and managing a band, not to mention painting, figure and still life drawing. As previously mentioned she had aced her courses and graduated top of her class in only three years. After that she'd moved in with three of her high school friends and agreed to start a band with them. This is what had happened.

The woman stared up at the ceiling, decorated with her rather extraordinary paintings and portraits. Her gaze lingered on one particular charcoal sketch of a stoic man with long black hair and a set scowl on his face. _I miss you…_Rukia thought sadly as she remembered leaving her brother. She hadn't seen him since the beginning of college, and while she was sure he rarely even thought of her, she missed him terribly. Despite his cold and distant air, he was family. Rukia had grown up living in her brother's mansion, brought up to be a "proper lady" and such. When she had stated her love for music and art, and the fact that she would be going to Julliard instead of Oxford—where he'd planned for her to go and study law—instead of getting mad at her, ignoring her, or forcing her to go to England, he simply nodded and asked quietly what she was going for. It had been a change.

_"Brother, I have decided that I must tell you this now or I just won't be happy with the rest of my life. I love art and singing, and do not want to study law. I am going to Julliard, even if I must pay for it myself. I know you expect me to become a top lawyer, but I can't bear to do something I abhor. I am truly sorry if you are disappointed in me." Byakuya's lips formed a thin line and he said nothing for a moment._

_ In the increasing silence, Rukia had become more nervous, shifting her weight between her left and right legs. After an unbearable pause, Byakuya had nodded, making Rukia's mouth open slightly. "What will you be studying at Julliard?" It had taken a moment before she stammered out her classes she had signed up for. Byakuya simply nodded again._

_ "Very well. I know of your passion for music and art, and do not intend on stopping you from following your dreams. While I would prefer you studying to become a solicitor, I think that you are qualified to attend Julliard. I will pay the expenses." Rukia started again before hugging him tightly. Byakuya hesitated before hugging her back awkwardly, pulling away soon._

_ "Thank you, Brother. You don't know how much this means to me." Her brother nodded tightly and managed a small smile._

Rukia broke out of her thoughts and came back to the present. She thought of this happening almost every night. It had been the turning point in her life when she realized that although her brother was very formal, serious, and reserved, he indeed cared for her deeply. His acceptance of her had led her here, where she was making her dreams come true and having the time of her life. She was with her friends and could do what she loved and lived for—singing.

She smiled at this thought before drifting off to sleep, dreaming of her band…and of an orange-haired man she had so recently met.

While Ichigo knew that he had work that night and he should get some sleep, he couldn't. He was replaying the band's first song over and over in his mind. What a bestseller that would make as soon as they were on air. How were they not yet? Did they not record their songs? Did they only play live at nightclubs, or did they actually try to make themselves famous?

He had a feeling that this was a band that just did what they loved, and figured that fame was a byproduct of it. It seemed logical considering what Rukia had told him a few hours previously. Ichigo lay on his bed, fingers entwined behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. His eyes, though, were as far away as his mind was. He loved his job, despite the rich snobs and drunkards stumbling around asking for more shots. He got to meet amazing people. He had a feeling that he'd met one tonight.

His thoughts were broken by an annoying song—his ringtone. The black iPhone vibrated vigorously, working its way toward the edge of his desk where it resided at night. He groaned and flopped his hand toward the phone, picking it up and holding it close to his eyes. As they adjusted to the bright light of the phone, he realized who was calling and let out another, louder, groan. _Goat Breath,_ it read. It was his dad, calling him at five in the morning even though he full well knew Ichigo's weekend schedule.

"What?" Ichigo answered, impatient for this conversation to be over.

"_ICHI, MY BOY! HOW ARE YOU?"_ Ichigo flew off of his bed in surprise and held the phone a few feet farther from his smarting ears. He had no idea why he was still reacting like this after a phone call every week always starting like this. His father was…to put it nicely, an obnoxiously loud person. When Ichigo was in his bad moods…he never failed to find a new insulting name for the man.

"Bloody hell, Dad! Do you mind? I was just trying to fall asleep and you startled the shit outta me!" Laughing could be heard from the other end of the phone which made Ichigo's scowl deepen further. How was this dumb bum this crazily exuberant at such a late…or _early,_ time?

_"Oh, come now, Ichi, my boy! I just wanted to check on you! How is work? Do you have a girlfr—?"_

"Shut up, _Baka! _Can I not get one night of peace? I am going to block your number if you call one more time."

_"Oh, son!"_ Sounds of fake sobbing were heard in the background. "You wouldn't do that to your father, now would you?" Ichigo growled at him and hung up, fed up with his pestering father's calls. He wearily plopped back down on his bed and slammed his phone back down to its place on his desk.

"Damn old idiot." He muttered, clenching his jaw slightly. It took him a long time to fall asleep after that.

"Hey, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime bubbled, seeing a sleepy-eyed, orange-haired man walk in the barroom, shuffling his feet along the slippery tile. Yoruichi was sitting on one of the many stools, frantically pulling her orange sweater up ever so slightly to see if her stomach was any larger than it had been yesterday. Urahara was cowering from her underneath a nearby table, probably hoping she wouldn't get mad again. In fact, the opposite happened.

"You know what?" Yoruichi said, beaming. Urahara, taken aback by the friendly tone, warily stood up from under the table, trying to decide whether or not this was a ruse. "Our child will be named Atsuko…hoping that it is a girl." After these words, her tone became scathing once again. "That is because the name means _honest,_ which I'm hoping will be a characteristic of our child…unlike _someone_ I know." Urahara flinched slightly and looked longingly at the back door, its path blocked by his wife.

"Well…I mean…" Urahara nervously scratched the back of his neck, trying to find something to say.

"No need to say anything, Kisuke—they all know that I'm absolutely right." Urahara grinned sheepishly and sidled over to the back door, doing his best to not get killed by his wife.

Chad spoke up from a corner of the room where he was sitting and drinking a bottle of sake. "Is that band coming back tonight?" His deep voice caught the other six off guard, making them all spin around in unison. Ishida grinned and nodded his confirmation.

"Yup! I got them to come back again tonight because I'm sure more people will be back to hear the soon-to-be legendary band. The Time is going somewhere, don't you think?"

"Hell, yeah!" Tatsuki piped up eagerly, taking this opportunity to assert her knowledge over the others, Renji being her boyfriend. "Renji says that the band is going great. Since they don't record their songs I'd never really heard any of their work before yesterday, but wow was it great! They don't mind being famous, but aren't really after it all that much. They just do what they love and go with the city's flow of music. Er, that's what Renji said, anyway." Ichigo chuckled softly at Tatsuki's awkwardness and popped open a bottle of sake for himself.

One of the bonuses to working at the bar was being able to get free drinks, provided no one got too drunk to do their job well. A couple bottles of sake or a shot of liquor was pretty much the nightly limit for the five. Urahara, being the boss, could get as hammered as he pleased, and although he had a relatively high tolerance for alcohol, he had gotten fairly tipsy on a few occasions.

"Hey, Chad, why don't you tell us about your little sister now that we have more time?" Orihime said politely, perching on a nearby stool. Chad was obviously not comfortable talking about the subject, but seeing that everyone had their eyes on him, he relented and gave a vague explanation.

"When I lived in Mexico with my _Abuelo,_ I knew many people. Nova was one of them, and his little sister, Ririn. We were very close. I saw them again here in Japan, and since we didn't have parents, or any other relatives to speak of, we decided to share a house. It's sensible." This was, perhaps, the longest speech that Chad had ever given. He looked at the glimmering metal of the table top and closed his mouth, finished explaining.

"That's so nice of you, Chad!" Orihime said, smiling widely while cleaning a wine glass. Chad nodded but didn't look up at her. Urahara clapped his hands together and walked away from the back door, now in business mode.

"All right, people. We'll have a full house tonight, maybe even more so than last night, so please do your best. Ishida, is the band ever going to get here?" Ishida pulled out his phone and dialed a number, most likely calling the Time to confirm their arrival. Chad walked across the room to his place by the door while Tatsuki and Orihime sat by the bar. Ichigo dashed into the changing room to put his bartender's uniform on. All of the uniforms were red shirts and black pants. The two waitresses w0re rather tight red tank tops with a plunging neckline and black miniskirts that looked like short towels tied around their hips. The three men wore button-up red shirts and black slacks. It had been Urahara's idea for these ridiculous outfits, and Yoruichi had given him a good amount of grief for it.

Ichigo dashed out of the changing room and assumed his working position. Urahara grinned and flipped the switches, illuminating the sign outside and turning on the strobe lights. As soon as this was done, the first customers filed in eagerly, taking seats as close to the band stage as they could get. Ichigo grinned at the new marvel of the nightclub. _They're famous after their first night of playing here._ Thought Ichigo happily as he starting pouring drinks he knew would be called for.

The same as the night before, the four performers were raised from the floor, this time with a little dry ice smoke swirling around their feet. Everyone went berserk, waving their hands wildly as Rukia adjusted her microphone. "Hey, guys! Thanks for coming! Many of you are coming back from yesterday, so good to see you again. For those of you who are new, we're the Time. This first song is called "Gave up Too Soon". Enjoy!" And just like the previous night, the band launched into an awe-inspiring song.

_How do they come up with songs like these?_ Ichigo thought, amazed by the lyrics and beautiful melody. The song was more of a rock than country style, and soon everyone was clapping along and waving their shot glasses in the air. Urahara looked overjoyed; Yoruichi was lost in the music. While Tatsuki and Orihime were doing their best with the crowd, they were just overwhelmed—there were people standing up as well as sitting down, filling the room to its maximum capacity. Ishida was attempting to keep people within a five-foot radius from the stage, but it just wasn't really working. Chad had to break up a few fights that broke out, but that didn't stop the Time from playing their music.

No VIPs had shown up that night, so after things calmed down a bit Chad sat on one of the stools and people-watched with Ichigo. There were many well dressed men, and a good deal of women—most of whom were dressed in skimpy attire—as well as a few college students out for the night. Ishida had given up on trying to keep people away from the stage and instead was mingling, talking about the music and other good bands he could hire. Urahara was chatting it up with regulars and getting nagged about something by his wife. Overall, the atmosphere was pulsing with positive energy.

"All right, everyone! Thanks for listening—I'm glad you enjoyed. If you like our songs check out our Facebook page. Again, we're the Time. Have a great night!" With that, the band sank back down through the floor and into the basement. The many customers started to work their way out of the club—it took nearly twenty minutes because of the awful congestion. Urahara, as usual, thanked people heartily while the other five workers started to clean up. Yoruichi pounded her husband on the head one more time before returning to their living quarters.

After fifteen minutes, the four members of the band came through the door of the back room and sat down at the bar stools. "Hey, can we grab some drinks?" Renji asked tentatively, afraid he would be turned down. Urahara grinned, though.

"Of course! You're making my business boom, so you're welcome to whatever you want so long as you don't get drunk." Kira laughed and popped a bottle of sake, taking a deep drink. Renji grabbed a bottle of gin and was about to drink some from the bottle itself when Ichigo plucked it neatly out of his hand and poured some into a glass.

"That, my friend, is exactly how you get drunk." Renji smiled sheepishly and accepted the shot glass. Rangiku had already downed two sakes but wasn't looking at all tipsy. Chad looked at her skeptically but gave her another bottle of the alcohol. Rukia sat on the farthest seat to the right at the glass bar, twirling a bottle of schnapps.

"Hey, Rukia. You want anything?" She shook her head no and flicked the glass container, getting it to ping in a deep, musical way. Leave it to her to find anything and make music out of it.

"Ichigo! Do you mind staying here to close this place up? The rest of you may leave when you're done drinking."

"Sure thing, Kisuke."

"Call me Urahara, damnit!" With that, the man slammed the door to living quarters, leaving the room silent for a moment before everyone burst into laughter.

"Gimme!" Renji said, grabbing at the bottle of schnapps as Ichigo held it away from him. "I've only had three shots now!"

"That's equivalent to three and a half bottles of sake, idiot. Since you can't drink fifteen sakes and not get drunk like Rangiku, I think you've had enough." Rukia stated calmly, inspecting her spotless, perfectly manicured nails. Renji growled softly but relented, shoving the empty shot glass back to Ichigo.

"Goodnight, everyone! I hope I'll see you next weekend!" Orihime said, beaming brightly. She waved enthusiastically and skipped out the door, humming to herself. Tatsuki kissed a blushing Renji on the forehead briefly, waved at everyone, and wordlessly walked out of the door. After thanking the band and exchanging the expected pleasantries, Ishida and Chad followed the two women. That left Kira, Rangiku, Renji, and Rukia with Ichigo to deal with them.

"More sake!" Rangiku cried, holding up her sixth empty bottle. Ichigo raised an eyebrow, worried at her exuberance of alcohol.

"Uh, I think that you've had enough for tonight. Rukia, you sure you don't want any sake or anything?" Rukia nodded again and stood up.

"Come on, guys. We have to go." The other three grudgingly stood and followed her out of the near-empty nightclub, hollering their thanks back at Ichigo. He sighed and smiled slowly. What an interesting group of people. He didn't understand how they got along so well. Maybe it was their different personalities that drew them together.

As he slowly finished cleaning the bar, he noticed a small scrap of paper flutter to the ground. On it was a phone number and an address. The flip side read, _For Kurosaki Ichigo. From Kuchiki Rukia._ Ichigo smiled and stuffed the paper in his pocket. _Good, _he thought,_ it looks like we'll be getting along just fine._


	3. Chapter 3

Kurosaki Ichigo's college schedule worked out perfectly with his work. His weekend work was from around seven to two every night, so if he'd had a normal college schedule he never would've gotten any sleep. Knowing Ichigo's plight, the Academic Dean had agreed to ensure that his schedule had classes starting at no earlier than twelve in the afternoon.

Ichigo's first class was in managing businesses, which was fitting considering he wanted to eventually run his own nightclub after he got out of college and got a little more money. He also had philosophy class, psychology class, economics class that would help him stay afloat in the changing economy, and political science. In his spare time on the weekdays, he played piano. Ichigo had had a passion for the piano since he was a little boy. His father and two younger sisters had all teased him, claiming that the art was a girlish one. When nobody was home, he had played, making slow progress. During high school he took private lessons, becoming better and better. Now, during college, his own compositions rivaled those of Chopin and Debussy.

He was a secret prodigy.

The emphasis, though, would be on _secret._ He had a piano in his small apartment and would play it often, but when he had company he would never talk about music or play. The only person in the world who understood his passion for music was his mother. She was also musically talented, and praised Ichigo instead of taunting him.

Ichigo banged on his piano on this particular night, frustrated as hell. He was attempting to compose another song, but with Rukia's songs in his head, none of his pieces now seemed good enough. "Damnit! How does she do it?" He banged on the piano again, making a low, eerie sound echo throughout his spotless apartment. The apartment consisted of one master bedroom, a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and spare room. He, obviously, had turned this into his own music room. A grand piano was centered in the large room; cover raised and held up, retaining a professional air. The surrounding walls were covered in unique tapestries. Although in the music room they looked quite odd, they served as amazing sound proofing and acoustics.

His bedroom was a very tidy, very organized affair. You would expect a woman to have a room like it; not a man. The bed's head was centered on the far wall, the rest protruding into the room. Above the bed was a window with a picturesque view of downtown Karakura. Although his apartment was quite expensive, the pay at _Seireitei_ was quite handsome. The walls were painted metallic navy blue, letting light reflect off of its walls. On one wall was a black metal dresser and floor lamp. The other two walls, except for the door, were covered in bookshelves. The books were arranged in a manner only librarians would have. Each bookshelf was for a different genre: fantasy, biography, crime, classic, et cetera. The books were subcategorized alphabetically by the authors' last names.

The kitchen was a modern one, full of gleaming stainless steel and glass. The countertops were white marble, giving the room a bright look. The living room consisted of one couch, one love seat, and two chairs. All were of grey micro-fiber; very soft. The coffee table was perhaps the only part of the apartment that wasn't orderly. More books were piled haphazardly on top of each other, some piles reaching halfway to the ceiling. Ichigo's laptop also resided on the table, charger wire snaking across the floor to an outlet behind the couch. Some stacks of old paper were scattered across the table—old essays and unused sheet paper lost in the tides of time.

Right now, the young man resided on his bed, sitting with the phone in his hand. He had been debating whether or not to call Kuchiki Rukia and ask if she was up for dinner for two hours instead of writing a philosophy report. What if she turned him down? No, that wasn't possible. She was the one to give him her number. That meant that she wanted him to call. What if the phone rang? Would he leave a message, or would that be awkward, for them to play phone tag? Ichigo smacked his head and dialed the number, breathing deeply and composing himself.

_"Kuchiki speaking."_ Said a sharp voice. Ichigo laughed softly at her formality.

"So formal." Ichigo said seriously, earning a hearty laugh from the other end of the line.

_"Hey, Ichigo. I knew that you would call if I gave you my number."_ For a moment Ichigo was worried that this had just been a test, a ruse, a bet perhaps, that Rukia just wanted to see what he would do given her number. His worries were quickly squashed, though. _"So, what's up?"_ Ichigo smiled, relieved, and replied.

"Would you like to go to dinner with me? I'm free and was wondering if you were too." He heard suppressed giggling—not Rukia's—in the background. Maybe Rangiku or another friend was with her. He smiled at the thought. Silly girls.

_"When and where?"_ She said, an obvious smile in her voice. Ichigo himself was overjoyed but kept that at a minimum right then.

"At six, a restaurant I know downtown. Is Mexican food alright with you?"

_"I adore Mexican food. Is it fancy?"_

"Not at all. I'll pick you up then."

_"Can't wait."_ With that, the phone line went dead and Ichigo jumped up and pumped his fist in the air much like a golfer after winning a tournament would. Although it strictly speaking wasn't a date, he felt that their budding friendship could possibly bloom into something more. That thought was, in fact, quite appealing to him.

Ichigo pulled a white shirt that said _"When life gives you lemons…" _on the front, finishing with _"…throw them at your enemies"_ on the back, dark grey jeans, and high top Converse. After putting these on, he realized that Rukia would most likely be wearing something similar. He smiled but didn't change.

Noticing the time, Ichigo quickly went to Google and figured out how to get to Rukia's house. She lived practically all the way across the city, in a rather nice residential neighborhood. On the ride to her place, he thought about probably more than fifty different ways to greet her, ultimately giving up and just deciding to play everything by ear. After all, that would provide a more interesting dinner.

He owned not a car, but a bright red Vespa that could seat two people. Even though the trip would take longer using a motor scooter, it was the more energy efficient way. Ichigo's father, Isshin, had forcibly taught him mechanics as a child. As such, Ichigo had replaced the little Vespa's gas engine with one recharged by electricity.

As he reached Rukia's apartment building, he couldn't help but gawk just for a moment. The building towered over most of the others surrounding it, at least fifty floors. Though there were plenty of buildings in the city that were taller, this particular area was strictly residential and therefore for the most part the apartment buildings were shorter.

The lobby was lavish, adorned with beautiful paintings, Persian carpets, and a fountain at the center. The concierge looked bored, but smiled when Ichigo entered the room. "May I help you, sir?" Ichigo looked at the scrap of paper again, checking the address.

"Yes. I need to pick someone up at apartment 49B."

"I'll need to know who you're seeing and what your name is."

"I'm picking up Kuchiki Rukia, and my name is Kurosaki Ichigo."

"One moment while I call up to her room. Standard security procedures." Ichigo waited impatiently, tapping his foot, while the concierge waited for someone to answer the phone. After a moment or two, the man hesitantly stated the stranger's name into the phone, telling what he had said. After listening for a minute, he thanked the person at the other end and hung up.

"All right, you're clear to go."

"Thanks." With that, Ichigo strode over to the elevator and pressed the "Up" button. He heard the elevator ding and after a moment the polished doors slid open to reveal a family of four, hurrying out of the elevator. There were two little children clinging to their mother's hands, talking loudly. The concierge greeted them politely and went back to his book.

Ichigo quickly stepped inside the elevator, scanning the rows and rows of buttons until he came upon 49. He quickly pressed the button, illuminating it yellow. The elevator dinged and the doors closed. The ride up was a long one, leaving the man time to think about what he was doing. Why did he like this woman so much? Was he rushing their friendship along too fast? After all, they'd only met three days ago. _She did agree to going to dinner, so she probably likes me fine._

The doors slid open slowly, showing a rather long hall. The carpet was a dark coffee brown, matching the lighter brown walls. Ichigo looked to the left, seeing the first door. That would be Rukia's. Ichigo hesitated for a moment before knocking softly, looking about to see if anyone else was around. The hall was deserted.

He heard a lock being turned, and then Rukia stood before him, smiling. "Hey, Ichigo! Good to see you." She said brightly, grabbing her purse from a table just out of sight and shutting the door softly behind her. She was wearing black jeans and black Converse, and Ichigo laughed at this.

"Good to see you too, Rukia. I just noticed that we match!" Rukia looked at Ichigo's attire and laughed too. When she saw his shirt, though, she doubled over in laughter.

"Oh, that's funny. And very good advice." Her hair was in a tight bun, only a few strands of hair hanging beside her face. She had a red tank top on that fit her nicely, not skin tight but form-fitting.

"Yeah. It makes sense. By the way, do you like motor scooters?" Rukia's eyebrows shot up to her hairline before she smiled.

"Hell, yeah! I love 'em. Why, do you have one?" Ichigo nodded, smirking at her initial reaction. "Cool! Alright, we'd better go." Just as they were turning toward the elevator, a female voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Have fun, you two. Don't stay out _too _late."

"Hey, shut up Rangiku!" Rukia said loudly, shaking her fist at the door. The gesture was lost to Rangiku, who just laughed at her tone. "Alright, let's get outta here." Ichigo agreed, and together they boarded the elevator and rode down to the lobby, making small talk. The concierge greeted them both happily, waving and the like. Rukia was very friendly with him, showing that they had an old friendship.

Once they got outside, they stopped by the sidewalk. "Here's my Vespa, Rukia." Ichigo said, pointing to the red motor scooter parked on the curb. Rukia grinned and looked up at Ichigo, violet eyes wide. "This is an awesome ride, Ichigo. Thanks a million."

"No problem. Here, put your purse over your shoulder so it doesn't get blown away." Rukia did so, hopping on the back of the motor scooter after Ichigo did. Her arms wrapped tightly around Ichigo's waist, making him blush self-consciously. He quickly turned to face away from her and revved the Vespa's motor. The engine was relatively quiet, making Rukia puzzled. Weren't even motor scooters louder than this?

"Ichigo, why is the motor so quiet?" She asked as they zoomed in between cars, bikes and pedestrians. Ichigo's face pulled up in what seemed like a smile from the back.

"Oh, that. I replaced the engine with an electrically charged one. It's quieter, cheaper, and a whole lot better for the environment." Rukia nodded, even though she knew Ichigo couldn't see her. Though they were mere acquaintances, she liked him very much. He was funny and interesting. _What a coincidence that we met each other at _Seireitei _and struck up a conversation, _Rukia thought to herself. After all, their band had only been a back up to another so-called "legendary" band that couldn't make it. It sure did sound like fate, even though Rukia didn't believe in any such thing.

After a few death-defying minutes, the two reached the Mexican restaurant, _Fiesta. _It was a popular restaurant, but on a Monday night there weren't too many people. Ichigo brought the Vespa to a screeching halt, parking it by the curb. A parking meter beside the Vespa blinked at zero, so Ichigo rummaged around in his pants pocket and slipped a quarter into the machine, making it blink to an hour. He repeated it, just to make sure he wouldn't get ticketed. Although he had enough money for college and rent, he didn't have too much extra.

"Yum, this place smells good." Was Rukia's first comment as the two walked into the quiet restaurant. _She's right,_ Ichigo thought as he inhaled deeply, smelling herbs, salsa, and meat. A perky hostess bounced up to them, a smile pasted on her faced.

"Hey, guys! Welcome to _Fiesta._ Would you like to sit outside or inside?" Rukia motioned to the back of the restaurant, indicating that she wanted to sit inside. Ichigo nodded slightly before turning to the hostess.

"We'd like to sit inside, thanks." The hostess winked at Ichigo and bounced over to a booth in the corner of the room. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the obvious flirtation, but said nothing. The interior had been redecorated recently, Ichigo noticed. The walls were painted red with a Mexican style carpet. Paintings depicting various aspects of Mexican and Spanish culture—particularly festivities—were hung around the room. The lights were dim, but not so much so that no one could see. Ichigo loved the place.

"Hey, guys! My name's Ami and I'll be your waitress for tonight. Could I get you two something to drink?" This woman was, if anything, perkier than the last. She had bleach-blonde hair piled up on her head.

"Rukia?" Ichigo inquired, waiting for her to make a decision.

"Um…I guess I'll just have water for now, no ice."

"And for you?" The woman said, turning her attention to Ichigo.

"The same please."

"Of course. If there's _anything_ that you need, just wave." Ichigo gritted his teeth once she turned away. Usually the waiters and waitresses at this place were nice, but every once in a while there would be an overly flirty waitress that would just make everything awful. He chose to ignore her and instead talk to Rukia.

"So, tell me about yourself, Rukia. What did you do before you formed your band?" Rukia smiled at Ichigo's classic get-to-know-you question. It was, though, an admittedly good one.

"Do you want to hear everything? It's all quite a long story." Ichigo smiled and nodded.

"'Course! That's the whole point of the question."

"All right, then. Well, I grew up northern Japan in my brother's mansion. I wouldn't call it my home, though. See, I have no parents. They both died when I was very, very little. My blood sister was married to Kuchiki Byakuya. Hisana though, was sick her whole life and died when I was seven. My brother wanted me to go to Oxford to study law, but I couldn't bear the thought of becoming a boring lawyer.

"Now, you don't know my brother, but believe me when I say he was just a bit intimidating. In any case, I finally got to telling him that I wouldn't go to Oxford. I told him that I would go to Julliard on my own money if need be. I'd already been accepted, and wanted to study everything about music, bands, painting, and art-related stuff. Instead of shunning me or forcing me to go to England, he paid for all of my college tuition and let me go.

"I didn't really have a lot of friends at college, though. See, I started college when I was sixteen and only attended three years because I covered all of the material in my classes that fast. Everyone was…I don't know if they were _jealous_ or not, but the age difference made it so that I just didn't get along with most people.

"In any case, I graduated three years later and came back to Japan because I didn't want to stay in America. I got together with three of my friends—obviously Renji, Kira, and Rangiku—and discussed starting our own band. They were cool with the idea, so we tried our luck and finally found a breakthrough at your nightclub. That's the short version of my life."

Ichigo had been listening intently, head propped up by hand. He now realized that he had been unintentionally leaning forward towards Rukia this whole time. He quickly sat up straight, away from Rukia. He was surprised by her history. It certainly wasn't your average childhood story and left him with a multitude of questions.

The waitress, Ami, dropped off their drinks, smiling at Ichigo all the while.

"Wow…that's pretty amazing. If you graduated when you were nineteen, though…"

"I'm twenty, if that's what you were going to ask."

"So that's why you refused to drink anything yesterday night. You can't even drink." Rukia looked down self-consciously, wondering how old Ichigo was.

"Yeah. I'm going to be twenty-one next month, though."

"I'm just surprised because I'm just finishing up college now. I'm twenty-two and started college when I was eighteen—like a _normal _person." The last words were said with upbeat sarcasm, aimed to be funny but not insulting. Rukia laughed at the jab at her intelligence and started to peruse the menu, looking for something that sounded delicious. She decided to get back at Ichigo, knowing that their conversation had taken on a joking tone.

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm smart, unlike _someone I know._"

"Oh, I'm hurting inside. That one got me real deep!" Ichigo said, pretending to cry. They were interrupted by Ami, who had pranced over and stood before them, paper in hand.

"Have you decided what you're going to order?" She bubbled, looking and directing her words specifically at Ichigo. Ichigo was fairly disgusted by her behavior but kept quiet and ordered a chicken and pepper quesadilla. Rukia ordered Chile Relleno, which was a mild chile pepper stuffed with cheese and baked to absolute deliciousness, or so Rukia thought.

Ami quickly bounced off, giggling to herself quietly. Ichigo rolled his eyes at Rukia, who nodded at the silent comment. She took a sip of her water and changed the subject, turning to a more serious topic.

"Well, you now know all about me, but I know absolutely nothing about you. So tell me, Ichigo. Tell me about your childhood." Ichigo but his lip, wondering where to start. There was so much to tell, and not all that much time to tell it in. He decided to tell the shortest version of the story he could.

"I grew up right here in Karakura. Away from this downtown area, though, in the suburbs. My father owned and ran a clinic next to our house, so it was an interesting life. He's an interesting character, to say the least. We have a somewhat odd relationship…you can tell when we try to kill each other instead of saying "good morning". Not that we really hate each other. He's just an annoying old goat." Rukia laughed at the nickname, wondering how interesting family life was when Ichigo was a child.

"My two twin sisters, Karin and Yuzu, are absolutely nothing alike. See, Karin was a soccer star and wore boys' clothes for the most part. She also hung out with mostly boys in primary and secondary school. Yuzu, though, is the polar opposite. She stuck to dresses and dolls, and cooked and cleaned by free will. Sometimes I think it's a little bit creepy how helpful she could be, but she's just like that naturally. The two are four years younger than I am…Karin is going to college in America on a full sports scholarship, which is pretty awesome. Yuzu is going to college in Tokyo, studying cooking. She's always loved it and is probably going to become a professional. I'm proud of both of them.

"Anyway, I always lived in Karakura, went to school in Karakura, and am now in my last year of Karakura University. Urahara is a family friend, so when he opened his nightclub he offered for me to work there with a few of my friends. I'm juggling college and a weekend job somehow, and still getting good grades. So there you go." Rukia thought that it was sweet of him to talk so much about his sisters. Usually an older brother would be annoyed by younger siblings, but she got the feeling that Ichigo took care of his sisters. She was also impressed by his college. Karakura University was well known for its business programs. More than half of Japan's famous, successful businessmen and women had gone to the university.

She was puzzled, though, by the fact that Ichigo hadn't once mentioned his mother. Before she could ask, though, Ami came with two sizzling plates of food and put them down, eyeing Ichigo the whole time. Ichigo barely looked at her, focusing instead on Rukia as he briefly thanked her for the meal. He was waiting for her to say something.

"That's…something. But what about your mom? You didn't really mention her at all." Ichigo's face noticeably darkened and he looked away, biting his lip hard. Rukia could tell she'd just touched a ginger topic, and didn't want to pry. "Never mind, then. You don't have to say anything."

"No, no. It's fine. It's just…well, my mother is just about the nicest, sweetest person in the world. She's a great cook, a great musician—which you'd appreciate—and just wonderful at being a mom. Even Karin would show emotion around her, and believe me when I say that that's no ordinary feat. Well, my mom got sick two years ago. I've been sending all of my spare money to the hospital she's at to save up for an operation, but…but I'm afraid that an operation won't cure things." Rukia could see the deep sadness in Ichigo's eyes and realized just how much he loved her. Rukia had never known her parents and sister, and had grown up around a brother who had taught her to keep her emotions to herself. She didn't know the true meaning of love, and while she knew she didn't, she knew that Ichigo did.

"I'm so sorry, Ichigo. I wouldn't have asked in the first place. I had no idea—"

"It's fine. Forget it. Let's just eat." They didn't talk for a few minutes, just eating in a relatively awkward silence. The voices around them drifted through the air, making Rukia wonder what other people were talking about. Surely they were discussing lighter topics than the one that had just been brought up at that table minutes previously.

Both of their meals were excellent, as they thought. The two talked a bit throughout the meal, but never touched upon such in-depth subjects again. A heavy air hung about them for the rest of the night, making Rukia feel bad that she'd asked and Ichigo feel bad that he'd answered. The waitress, Ami, thanked them (or Ichigo, really) what must have been one hundred times before they left.

The ride home was rather terrifying to Rukia, considering Ichigo's crazy driving. While he seemed an expert at controlling the Vespa, he would weave between cars and tight spaces that seemed only two feet wide at phenomenal speeds. When they got back to Rukia's apartment, they shook hands companionably.

"Thank you for dinner, Ichigo."

"Thank you, Rukia. Good night." And with that she was gone, the elevator doors closing with awful finality. Ichigo looked at the concierge, who had wisely not put down his book to ask at the emptiness of the words. He wouldn't want to know.

When Ichigo got home, he sat on his bed for an hour, unmoving. Thinking as hard as he was would make one completely still. He was thinking about what Rukia had told about herself.


	4. Chapter 4

"How was your night?" Kira asked politely, looking at her. Renji and Rangiku were also present, waiting to hear about Rukia's night out with Ichigo.

"It was…interesting. We got to know each other much more, and exchanged some fairly interesting stories. The funniest part, though, was the waitress. She was flirting with Ichigo like crazy, batting her eyelashes at him and winking and using the funniest tones. It took a whole lot of concentration to keep from laughing."

Rangiku was wide-eyed at this, visibly upset. "Did he flirt back?" She asked quickly, staring with wide eyes at Rukia. She laughed and shook her head, making Rangiku sit back down and let her breath out in relief.

"Heck, no. In fact, he was rolling his eyes at her behind her back, which was funny. Nah, he didn't even start to flirt back. We were in conversation, after all." Renji laughed and imitated what the waitress had seemed like, batting his eyes at Rukia and speaking in a falsetto voice.

"Oh, hello, Ichigo. Is there _anything_ I could _possibly_ do for you? May I have your phone number by any chance?" The other three laughed, Rangiku almost tipping her stool over. The four companions sat around the kitchen, laughing and telling funny stories well into the daytime, when they usually slept.

Rukia enjoyed everyone's take on her evening with Ichigo, but she was a little surprised at how fast their relationship was moving. Three days ago they had just met. Now they were already friends. It just seemed…sudden. Though she really did like this man, she wondered why they were getting along so well and building their friendship so fast.

In the meantime, Ichigo was back at home trying to figure out how to block his father's calls on his iPhone. The man was being tormented by almost nonstop calls, usually while Ichigo was asleep. He had been searching the phone for at least an hour in an attempt to block Isshin, but it was to no avail.

He was somewhat technologically impaired and couldn't even set an alarm on the device. He would have to ask someone at work—preferably Ishida—to fix the problem. He set the phone down on his desk and walked into the living room, unable to sleep. Ichigo wasn't much for email or internet, but when he couldn't sleep—which was often—he would either check his Facebook or write. He had started a book about a criminal who fell in love, and how it changed him. The story was not a romance or a crime novel. There was very little blood and not all that much sappiness. It was about the connection between the two people and an understanding that came between them. While he had gotten more than two hundred pages typed and edited, he had recently lacked inspiration, and hadn't progressed.

That particular night was one of those nights, so instead of trying to pound another chapter out of his mind, he clicked on to the internet and surfed his profile, looking at the new happenings. He had gotten a few friend requests from the four members of the Time, which reminded him that he still hadn't looked at their band page. He quickly typed in the band name and hit the search button, wondering if there would be multiple hits. Indeed he was correct. There were a few pages of people with that screen name and a few businesses and such, but he found the page he was supposed to see eventually on the third page…and clicked.

The page had been friended by over one million people. That wasn't exactly a record, but it was fairly impressive. After performing at the nightclub two times, of course there would be that many people wanting to see the new band. After all, about four hundred people had heard the music live at the nightclub, and probably ninety percent of them had Facebook. So when they friended the Time, their friends had checked out the page, seen a video of the group performing, and friended it. Then their friends had seen the friending, and the circle got bigger and bigger. Ichigo smiled and friended the page, knowing that the action wouldn't go unnoticed by the four members of the band.

Then another thought came to the front of his mind—he had automatically accepted the friend requests of the four band members, and that meant the four people had their own individual pages. He quickly clicked back to his own page and clicked on his friends list. Down in K, Kuchiki Rukia was the last listed. He clicked on her name, intrigued. Her page was mostly of the band, as were her pictures. There were a few videos of her singing, and they were incredibly impressive. There was a particular album, though, labeled "Random Pics". Ichigo clicked on that, wondering what they were pictures of. The first picture was of Rukia sitting on a swing in a park, looking skyward to some unseen object. While she wasn't smiling, she wore a serene expression that fit her personality very well.

The next picture was Rukia at the beach. She had a volleyball under her left arm and was grinning mischievously. She was wearing a white bikini top with little odd-looking green bunny creatures dotted all over it, and black swim shorts. Ichigo blushed at the sight of her body and quickly clicked to the next picture. There were about thirty pictures in the album, all in different settings. There were some older pictures of Rukia and a boy with black spiky hair and a crooked smile. While Ichigo saw that the pictures were just of the two being friends, his eye involuntarily twitched.

He exited the internet and closed his laptop. Thinking of something to do, he realized that he hadn't played his piano for a while, lacking in inspiration. He closed the door of his piano room, sat down at the bench, and started playing. He didn't know what he was doing or if he would write the composition down. He just needed an outlet for his emotions, and piano was a very good example. He didn't have to feel negative emotions if he played them out. For years it had been his way of venting, whether it be composing a masterpiece or simply banging out a classic tune. It was his safe haven.

Rukia sat at the kitchen table, staring at her computer screen. She often couldn't sleep, and not wanting to wake the others, couldn't play or sing. Instead, she would play chess on her computer. She was an expert; a master. The computer didn't even pose a slight challenge for her on the expert setting. To find any challenge, she would have to go on the internet and go to her favorite gaming website. The website's users were all computer whizzes—except Rukia. She wasn't one for technology, but she was a master of logic skill, and thought that the website would prove useful. Indeed it did. She hadn't been beaten once on the website. She was a legend.

At this particular moment she was squinting with bleary eyes at a chess board, looking for the quickest way to checkmate her opponent. He was ranked number one for the entire chess program on the website. She had beaten the top ten, except for the champion, and was now going for the title. She saw an opening via his queen, and quickly checkmated him after a few turns. She looked at the status of the chess players. Out of maybe half a million players, all of them international prodigies, she had beaten them at her kitchen because of lack of sleep. Rukia had an unusual sleeping schedule. Usually she ran on four hours of sleep, usually from somewhere between four and six to eight or ten—in the morning. Right now it was seven AM, and Rukia was absolutely exhausted. She looked over at Kira, who had crashed on the couch a few hours previously.

Looking at her computer screen, she realized that even her insomniac self had to get some sleep or she would never be part of the band. If you didn't sleep, you couldn't sing. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her head lowered onto her computer keyboard. She fell asleep right there at the kitchen table, chess website still up on the computer screen.

"Rukia." Rukia's eye twitched but she did not waken. "Rukia." This time her name was said with more force and authority. Rukia muttered something incoherent, but kept her eyes glued shut. Rangiku pouted at Rukia's unresponsiveness and decided further measures had to be taken to get her awake. "Hey, Midget. You're vertically challenged." Rukia snapped upright, glaring at Rangiku. She had heard her name said twice before but didn't want to leave that dreamy state somewhere in between sleep and waking.

"Shut up Matsumoto!" Rukia shouted, rousing Kira from his slumber on the couch.

"Wha'?" He asked, somehow managing to slur one word. The two women looked over and saw an empty bottle of sake fall out of his lap. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, squinting at the window. It was daytime. "Y'know, I still dun't unersand wha we halfta geddup so friggin' early." His words were nearly incomprehensible, but the two got the general idea of what he meant.

"Listen, dumb-bum, why don't you get some coffee and stop complaining. It's Tuesday, so we have a club to play at. I know we don't have any normal sleep schedule, but maybe you could take some sleeping pills instead of getting drunk as a way to fall asleep, yeah? By the way, you need to shave. You look like a homeless person." Kira attempted to scowl, but it just looked like his mouth had been twisted badly. Rukia turned back to Rangiku.

"Why did you wake me up? We don't have a gig until…what was it? Four? Isn't it just one or something right now?" Rangiku grimaced and cocked her hips.

"We got bumped up to three, so unless you want to be late, we have to get ready! The ride in our old piece-of-junk-jalopy with all of the equipment is going to take a hell of a long time. By the way, I didn't know you were one of the world's best chess players." She added, pointing to the computer screen. Rukia just nodded and made her way to the bathroom. Renji stumbled out of his bedroom, wearing nothing but boxers. Rangiku made a face and looked away.

"Honestly, Renji! Go and get dressed before you come out here! It's bad enough having Kira living here, so we don't need you to be a stupid roommate too!" Renji, suddenly abashed, disappeared into his room once again. Just when Rangiku sat down with her coffee for a moment of peace, the phone rang, making her jump slightly and spill her coffee onto the floor. She swore loudly and got up to answer the phone.

"Yo."

_"Is this Rangiku Matsumoto?"_ Asked a rather high-pitched voice that sounded slightly familiar.

"Yup. You got the right person."

_"Oh, good! This is Inoue Orihime, from _Seireitei._ I just called to invite you, Abarai-kun, Kira-kun, and Kuchiki-san to a beach party tomorrow. I organized it and thought that you would like to come. All of our friends at the nightclub are going, as well as some of their friends. You're welcome to bring anyone you want. Can you come?"_ Rangiku had always loved parties, and this sounded as if it would be very fun. The only potential problem would be a gig the next day.

"That sounds like a lot of fun! Let me check our calendar—we have a lot of gigs this week, so I'm not sure if we're available." Rangiku walked over to the calendar held by a magnet to the fridge. She scanned the days until she got to the right one—June 16th, the said Wednesday. There were no markings in that box save a scribbled line from the following day, where some piece of information had been written quite carelessly. Rangiku grinned and high-fived the calendar, overjoyed.

"We're free! Oh, the joy! Thank you so much, Inoue! All four of us will be there, mark my words. I'm not sure if we'll bring anyone else, but that isn't a definite no."

_"Wonderful! I'll email you the directions to the beach, and you and whoever you bring can drive there any time after three. I can't wait to see all of you there."_ With that, the line went dead and Rangiku started jumping around the kitchen, doing her own little joy-dance. It was at this time that Renji, now fully dressed, chose to make his appearance in the kitchen. He scratched his head and raised his tattooed eyebrows, curious to what Rangiku was dancing about.

"Uh, Matsumoto? Are you high, or just happy? It looks more like the first…" Rangiku stopped to glare at him, but soon broke into a grin.

"We're going to a beach party tomorrow! Inoue, the waitress from _Seireitei, _invited us. And Tatsuki's gonna be there, too!" Rangiku wiggled her eyebrows, narrowly missing Renji's punch he had thrown. She laughed and skipped around the kitchen again, quite the excitable person. Renji sat down on a stool, pushed Rukia's computer out of his way, and poured himself a mug of coffee, disregarding Rangiku's enthusiasm.

A little while later Rukia came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head, dressed in her favorite yellow sundress. Taking one look at Rangiku's wide grin she figured something had happened that was necessary to know.

"All right, Matsumoto…tell me why you look slightly insane. You seemed normal enough—well, as normal as _you_ get—just thirty minutes ago." Rangiku completely ignored the jibe at her sanity and instead explained her state of emotion.

"I'm so excited! Inoue invited us to a beach party tomorrow. We're all going, along with Inoue—of course—Tatsuki, Chad, Ishida, maybe the owner and his wife, Ichigo," she paused to wiggle her eyebrows at Rukia, who in turn growled, "and anyone they might be taking along. I'm going to invite Gin—he'll definitely not want to miss out." While Rangiku muttered to herself about who to bring and what preparations had to be made, Rukia seethed.

"If you think for one moment that I am going to go to a beach party, you thought wrong. I will do no such thing." Rangiku turned and frowned, her train of thought interrupted.

"Yes you will."

"No, I won't. I am _not_ going to a beach party. You know how much I hate them."

"Yes, you are going!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am—"

"If I have to personally drag you there, Kuchiki, you're going." Renji interrupted, seeing that the argument was going nowhere. Rukia glared scathingly at Renji, but knew that she had just been beaten. Renji really would follow through on his threats, as Rukia had unfortunately learned, and did not want to be dragged to a beach party. Better to retain her dignity.

"Fine. I'll go, but trust me when I say that this is the last time I'm going to some event like this unless I want to." Rangiku knew that this wasn't true, and Rukia knew it too, but it was her best way to get back at the two right then.

"Where's Kira?" Renji said, suddenly distracted. "I really hope he hasn't fallen out of the window…" Kira popped his head out of the bathroom door.

"I'm not _that_ drunk! I only had five bottles of sake." His head disappeared, and the three others burst into laughter despite the rather heated argument that had just taken place. Rukia didn't know that Ichigo had put up just as much of a fight about the beach party, but soon the two would be united by their hate for the events.

"Oh, am I excited for the beach party!" Tatsuki said, looking appreciatively at her best friend. It had been entirely Orihime's idea to throw a beach party. Her family—one of the richest in Karakura—owned a private beach by their summer home which was only an hour away. Orihime thought that having a party with her co-workers and their newly found band would bring them all closer together.

"As am I." Chad said, smiling one of his rare smiles. "I've always enjoyed swimming." Orihime nodded, beaming. She was pleased that most of her co-workers were happy. Yoruichi was fussing about whether or not she would look awful in a bathing suit since her stomach was growing incrementally larger each day. Kisuke had assured her that she would look beautiful, as always. After a skeptical look from her, she had actually smiled at him, flattered. The only person not excited was Ichigo. He wouldn't say why he disliked beach parties, or parties of any kind. He just said that he wouldn't go. After much begging and threatening on the part of Tatsuki, though, he had finally relented to catch a break.

"I'm just glad that this is on a private beach. I really don't like going to public beaches. It's just…_weird._ Anyway, I can't say I'm looking forward to this, but I'll still go so you won't hound on me and possibly kill me." Tatsuki snorted, trying to hold in laughter. It was rather true, though. When Ichigo had repeatedly refused to going to the beach, she had jumped on his back attempting to strangle him until he agreed. She had had to do this for more than ten minutes, occasionally beating him over the head, until he finally conciliated and agreed to go.

Right now the five were hanging out at Kisuke's place—not in the bar but in his actual home behind. The space was a nice one, very modern with lots of windows. Even though it was a week day and the companions only worked on weekends—save Ishida, whose work was full time—not all of them had university to go to. Orihime, living alone, didn't have the funds, so took classes online at her own leisure. Ishida, being the genius that he was, had gone through college in a year. Even that one year wasn't necessary. It was just all formalities for standardized tests and the like. Tatsuki was going to college, also at Karakura University, but she didn't take as many classes as Ichigo, so wasn't as tied down. Chad had gone to two years of college but had decided to stop, learning as much as he wanted and not wanting to learn more.

Thinking of this, Ichigo realized the date and started, jumping off of the couch he had been previously sitting on. "I graduate next week! I've been so busy that I didn't even realize that! And today…today is the fifteenth, right?" He said, questioning no one in particular for the date. Ishida, being who he was, answered immediately.

"Yes, today is the fifteenth of June, two thousand—"

"I know what year it is. Thanks, though. Uh, I know I asked you already to fix my iPhone to block my dad's calls, but could you help me get on the internet now, Uryū?" Ishida sighed at Ichigo's obvious ignorance of all things technological.

"Look here, _baka. _See the application icon that says _internet?_ Press the icon, and surprise! You get the _internet!_" Ichigo grumbled at Ishida's obvious impatience, but thanked him grudgingly while he figured out how to get to his college's home website. There would be his scores, posted that very morning at twelve AM. While he was sure he hadn't passed at least two of the exams, he wanted to see all the same.

After negotiating the touch keyboard and successfully reaching his website, he logged in to his student account and typed in a special code to access the information. The others, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and the crew, stood by and watched in rather astonished amazement as Ichigo jumped up and down and whooped and hollered like a little boy, a genuine grin on his face. In fact, he was so happy that his iPhone flew right out of his hand, across the room, and fortunately onto Yoruichi's lap. She grinned and examined the phone for damage—there was none.

Ichigo grinned sheepishly and sat back down, gaining control of himself once again. "Sorry, guys. I thought that I had failed at least two of my exams, but I got perfect scores. As I said before, I graduate next week…but if I failed any of my exams I don't graduate. Apparently I didn't, so I'm finally out of college." Tatsuki grinned and slapped Ichigo on the back.

"Congrats, Nerd! You passed! Wonderful job!" Ishida snorted, attempting to keep in laughter. He usually made a point of being calm and collected, but with Tatsuki's comment he just couldn't keep it together. Urahara, Yoruichi, Tatsuki, and even Orihime joined in laughing. Chad smiled widely but did not laugh. He'd never laughed unless what was said was truly funny.

"I had better be going. Thank you very much for the tea, Yoruichi-san. I'll see you all here tomorrow, alright? My car can carry five people, so we five can go together but Yoruichi-san, Urahara-sama, and anyone else going will have to use Urahara-sama's car. Is that okay, Boss?"

"Quite alright, Inoue! I'll see all of you tomorrow at two." With that, Orihime skipped out the door, elated as ever. In turn, the other four guests excised themselves, thanked Yoruichi and Urahara, and left. Urahara grinned and looked at his wife. "I love those little misfits. They really have grown up."

"I must agree with you for once, Kisuke. Just look at them! University, beach parties, boyfriends and girlfriends. Ah, they are growing up."


	5. Chapter 5

_The beach party. Oh._ Was the first thing Rukia thought when she got up the following morning. It was noon, the sun high in the sky. Rukia squinted and sat up, pulling her Chappy blanket away from her. She hated sand, swimming, bikinis, and everything that made up a beach party. She had been to one once with a friend, but had only pretended to like it. _Maybe if I hide…I could pretend I jumped out the window._ Though Rukia was tempted to try something she knew that Rangiku wouldn't be fooled.

She heard a thump in the adjoining room. Either Kira or Renji had fallen out of bed…again. It was a bad habit that they both had. That's why their beds were on the opposite wall from the windows—just in case. Rangiku was still asleep, balanced precariously across her bed, legs and head dangling over the floor. Rukia quietly hopped out of bed, scampering to her dresser to find good clothes.

After looking through a few drawers she decided on a see-through white top with long, billowing sleeves and an empire waist along with ripped jean shorts over her swimsuit. She, of course, finished the outfit with black knee-high Converse sneaks. Realizing that they had to leave by two, she jumped up and shook Rangiku. "Wake your lazy ass up, Rangiku! If you want Gin to come over you had better call him soon. It's already twelve in the fucking afternoon!" Rangiku blinked a few times before hauling herself into an upright position and rubbing her eyes slowly.

"Blah. I'll call him in a little while."

"No. Call him _now_ or it'll be too late. He has to get ready and drive here. Think about it." Rangiku thought about it. Then she nodded and picked up the phone on the nightstand between our beds.

"Yeah, fair enough." Rangiku dialed a number and held the phone to her ear lazily. She stopped mid-yawn when a voice interrupted the static. Even though Gin was speaking through the phone, I could hear him well enough.

_"Y-ello? Ichimaru here." _ Rangiku laughed before answering.

"Hey, silly. We're having a beach party today with some of our friends. They said to invite anyone, so you wanna go? That is, if you could get your ass over here by two." There was silence for a moment.

_"I'll see you in an hour, baby. Love you!"_ Rangiku giggled before returning the sentiment and hanging up. She gave me a thumbs up and jumped off the bed, rummaging around in her own dresser to find the necessary clothes for a day at the beach. She eventually decided on a strapless turquoise beach dress, essentially a towel made into clothes. Rukia, previously leaning against the wall, hoisted herself straighter and walked out into the kitchen, opening the rather large refrigerator for some food…any food.

She ended up eating a banana, finishing it in record time. Renji appeared in the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and stumbling slightly. He was dressed in basketball shorts worn too low and a sweatshirt that said _MEH_ on it. Rukia laughed at this and turned around. "What's so funny, Kuchiki?" Rukia pointed to his sweatshirt.

"Oh, that…yeah, since that's pretty much my response to everything, I decided I would just have it on my sweatshirt and point to it whenever someone said something."

"Interesting. So you finally reveal what goes on in that head of yours, Pineapple: absolutely nothing." Renji growled but sat down on the couch, fists clenching. He hadn't retaliated because it was more or less true and he knew it. After flipping through channels on the high-def TV and settling on a cheesy sitcom, Kira joined him, dressed similarly.

After finishing her banana, Rukia grabbed her computer from the bedroom and sat at the kitchen table, checking her Facebook. The band page was soaring in popularity with over one million friends. Rukia went to her personal page and smiled at what she saw. A friend request flashed at the bottom of the screen from Kurosaki Ichigo. She clicked accept and visited his profile. There was an entire album dedicated to crazy pictures of Ichigo's crazy father, sometimes candid shots of him picking his nose, sometimes shots of when he had just tried to teach Ichigo about fighting. All of them were hilarious. She went to the main page of his profile, and while looking at his wall and laughing at comments from a blue-haired male by the name of Grimmjow, her eyes happened to wander to the personal information column. He was single. She had had a feeling about that before, but now she knew for sure, which made her smile and blush a bit. She continued to read.

Rukia and Rangiku had made all of the arrangements, ignoring the two boys and their lack of working. They had packed some beach chairs, beach blankets, and other assorted beach-related items. The doorbell rang, cutting through the sitcom and making all look up. Rangiku grinned and hurried to the door, throwing it open.

"Gin!"

"Hey, Matsumoto." Gin said, grinning rather uncannily. Though he was only twenty-four, he had silver hair, slightly spiked. He always seemed to be smiling eerily despite the situation he was in. His eyes were…something. They glowed red, reminding many people who crossed his path of Satan. Rangiku, however, loved every odd aspect of him. She threw herself to him, hugging him tightly. Gin hugged her back just as enthusiastically, eventually kissing her. By now the other three were staring, the sixties sitcom forgotten.

Rukia cleared her throat, standing awkwardly by the kitchen. "You know, the goal here was to go to the beach, not watch you two get it on." Renji said, walking up beside Rukia. The two pulled away, grinning mischievously and eying each other. Kira looked up from the couch, eyebrows raised.

"If you're done making out then you can watch an old cheesy sitcom with us." Rukia glance at the stovetop clock and gasped.

"NO! It's already almost two! Damnit, Gin! Are you _always_ late?" Gin grinned a little wider, showing his sharp white teeth.

"Mostly, yeah. Let's hit the road, then." After everyone had grabbed what they needed, we managed to crowd into a single elevator, which was none too pleasant. The ride down was fairly long; in that time there were two yelling matches, a few punches, and countless noogies. The yelling was quite loud in the lobby, and the concierge—Ralph—was beside himself with laughter. Rukia found her car—a '57 Chevrolet—and had everyone pile in, stuffing the beach equipment in the back. Rukia drove with Kira in the passenger seat and Rangiku squished—_somehow—_between Gin and Renji. _Oh, boy…I hope I can survive this one._ Rukia thought nervously as she began the hour long drive to the beach.

Meanwhile, Ichigo and his friends were having trouble with the seating arrangements. Eventually they decided that Yoruichi would drive, being the least crazy of the seven. Urahara demanded that he take the passenger seat, wanting to have the most room. "I am your boss, after all." He'd said, earning a kick from Ichigo. The van they'd rented was nice, but not very large and therefore not extremely convenient. Ichigo and Chad, being the least talkative, had volunteered to sit in the back, leaving Tatsuki and a rather talkative Orihime on either side of a rather frightened Ishida. He'd never seen so much enthusiasm.

The ride started off alright. Orihime and Tatsuki were talking, completely ignoring Ishida. Chad and Ichigo quietly discussed work in the back while Yoruichi nagged her husband lovingly. Everyone was quite happy until Tatsuki's phone started to ring loudly, scaring Yoruichi and almost causing her to drive the car right off the road. Everyone yelled except for Chad, who just grimaced and held on to the seat rest in front of him.

Once Yoruichi got the car back on the road, she grinned. "My bad, everyone. Don't worry—no one will be dying today. Not on my clock, anyway!" With that, she sped up to phenomenal speeds and swerved into the fast lane of the freeway.

"Talk about irony." Ichigo managed to get out through clenched teeth. Tatsuki had answered her phone by this time and was yelling quite loudly at the speaker.

"_Renji!_ Yes, we're not there yet! Jeesh! You have to be impatient, do you? Well how about this? We're going about one hundred-twenty miles per hour! Happy? No, no, no. I'm not driving. No—hey—you—will you—just—DON'T UNTERUPT ME RENJI! Yes, we're going as fast as we can. We'll be there in fifteen minutes so just hold your freakin' horses, will ya'? Gosh." With that she hung up, moaning about how impatient her boyfriend was. Even Chad laughed at this conversation and revelation, knowing that it was too true.

Orihime instructed Yoruichi to get off of the highway, and started giving directions to her beach house. Urahara rolled down the windows for fresh air and everyone sighed a collective sigh, smelling the salt of the ocean. They were close.

After going around hairpin turns that made the van tilt sickeningly, Orihime instructed to stop. They were in a very sparsely populated neighborhood. The houses weren't big or ostentatious. They were nice, modest homes with lots of beautiful land surrounding them. The house that they were currently parked in was tucked away behind beech and willow trees. Of what they could see, the house was mostly glass and stone—a modern type. Orihime smiled, sighed, and hopped out to get all of the beach chairs and the sort out of the back. The rest of them were staring at the house, taken aback by its beauty.

"What's wrong, everybody?" Orihime asked, pouting at everyone's lack of enthusiasm for the afternoon ahead of them. Ichigo was the first to respond.

"Y-your house is…totally awesome…how could you possibly afford this?" Ichigo was stunned—as far as he knew she lived alone and only worked at _Seireitei,_ which didn't earn enough for as nice a summer home as this.

"This is my childhood summer home before my parents died. My brother, Sora, still lives here and works nearby. I asked him if we could visit the house for a beach party and he sportingly agreed!" By this time Orihime was practically gushing with excitement, looking forward to the beach party. Everyone shrugged and piled out, Ichigo falling on top of Tatsuki accidentally and earning a punch in the gut. Despite this everyone was in high spirits as they trekked down the long gravel driveway.

Halfway down, Tatsuki heard a shout of excitement and saw spiky red turn the corner. She braced herself and waited to be attacked by Renji, which she was in some manner of speaking. "Tatsuki! Oh, how I missed you! Tatsuki, you—"

"_Baka._ I love you to, okay? You don't need to go shouting, though!" Tatsuki said, grinning and holding a beach chair in front of her as a makeshift hug shield. Renji took her hand and pulled her down the driveway, yelling about how this was going to be incredibly fun. Just before he was out of sight, he yelled back to Orihime.

"_I love your house, Inoue!"_ And disappeared from view behind the expanse of trees that lined the driveway and path to the beach, Tatsuki in tow. Orihime smiled and started down the driveway, somehow balancing a cooler full of drinks, two beach chairs, a beach umbrella, and her bag with all of her personal things. Ichigo grabbed the towels and second cooler and headed down to the beach, not knowing what to expect. Would it be a rocky beach or a sandy beach? Was the water warm or cold? Was the scenery nice and picturesque? As soon as he finished walking down the path, though, these thoughts were quite literally blown from his mind.

The beach was quite long, reaching the length of the inlet. Of course not all of it was Orihime's, but from markers was about half a mile. The beach was white and smooth, the sand radiating heat. The water was a clear, sparkling blue. There were other houses but all of them were hidden by groves of trees almost entirely, just like Orihime's house. Ichigo gaped, unable to find words for the scene. The sun shone down brightly, the sky cloudless, reflecting off of the calm, pristine water.

"Nice, isn't it?" Ishida asked, coming up behind Ichigo. He nodded his response and continued slowly. The beach was one out of a dream, one that could have no faults. Chad, Yoruichi, and Urahara passed Ichigo, smiling at his disbelief. They were all impressed, but not quite so shell-shocked. Orihime stopped and motioned for Ichigo to come join them all. Ichigo shook his head, clearing his mind. On the beach were Rukia, Renji, Kira, and Rangiku. Next to Rangiku was a silver-haired man who frankly looked quite creepy with the way he smiled. Another man, who Ichigo assumed was Sora, hugged Orihime and took some of her load for her, setting it down on the beach. Ichigo smiled at the scene and walked over to them, setting down the chairs and opening them and opening the cooler for anyone who wanted something to drink.

"Hey, Ichigo." Ichigo looked up to a blushing Rukia. He quickly straightened up. She was wearing a black bikini top with neon yellow grinning skulls on it, matching swim shorts set low on her hips. Her pale figure was well shown off, causing Ichigo's breath to hitch. Rukia's blush turned redder but she kept on smiling.

"Hi, Rukia! Good to see you." Instead of shaking hands or simply remaining where they were, Rukia threw herself into Ichigo's arms, giving him a friendly hug. The man was quite taken aback but hugged her, smiling and blushing himself. Rukia heard Kira whistle, and the moment ended.

"Why, you little!" Rukia yelled, shaking her fist at him and starting to run toward him. He knew he was not in a good way.

"Oh, _shit."_ He said before standing up and running full speed up the beach, trying to get good footing in the soft sand. _For such a small person she sure is fast._ Ichigo thought amusedly as he watched Rukia tackle Kira and attack him mercilessly. Everyone laughed at the spectacle and returned to their former conversations. Ichigo walked over to the silver-haired man with two _Sapporo_, wondering who he was. He and Rangiku were having an animated discussion, waving their hands around wildly.

"Hey, Rangiku." Ichigo said friendly, handing her one of his drinks. She took it gladly, popping it open and taking a drink.

"Hey, Kurosaki. Good to see you."

"You too. I don't think I know you…" Ichigo said, sitting down by the two. The man grinned wider and put his hand out.

"I'm Ichimaru Gin. Pleasure."

"Good to meet you, Ichimaru—"

"Please call me Gin. And you are…?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Call me Ichigo. Want a _Sapporo?_" Gin grinned and accepted it, popping the top. "You're Rangiku's boyfriend, I'm guessing."

"Yup." Rangiku nodded and squeezed his hand. Ichigo exchanged a few more pleasantries before going to introduce himself to Sora. He was a very nice man, just like his younger sister. He was very talkative, asking all about Ichigo's family and interests. Ichigo was fond of him. Orihime talked with them, smiling brightly and holding her brother's arm. He could tell that the two were very close.

After things had settled down a bit, Chad proposed to have a massive game of Marco Polo after discovering that the water was very warm. Everyone joined in, unanimously choosing Urahara to be the one who shouted "Marco". Ichigo, being quite good at this game, was the last one to be caught which resulted in him being the finder. No one lasted very long save Rukia. Her small stature made it hard for Ichigo to actually tag her, resulting in a whole lot of laughing while the two swam around frantically, occasionally splashing each other. In the end Ichigo caught Rukia, catching her and wrapping his arms around her, opening his eyes.

"Got you! Man, you're a little devil, Rukia!" Rukia grinned evilly and threw herself into the water, taking Ichigo with her. Everyone was hooting with laughter by this time, seeing the events unfold. Eventually Rukia and Ichigo came up laughing, both of them shaking water off their hair. Everyone settled down and returned to the beach, cheering for Sora as he announced that he would be grilling up dinner for them. Ichigo, tired of feeling his soaked shirt against his body, peeled it off and threw it on his towel, brushing off extra water still dripping down him.

Rukia looked over and jumped a bit—Ichigo had taken off his shirt. She felt very guilty that she was having this odd reaction but her body seemed to be stronger than her mind. His chest was toned; chiseled and muscular, but not buff. His skin was smooth-looking and tanned, the ideal body that anyone would want to have. Knowing that she would lose control if she didn't look away soon, Rukia closed her eyes and thought of her brother. He would _not_ approve of her emotions. She would not feel this way. Though she did admit to herself that she like Kurosaki Ichigo perhaps as more than a friend, she knew that she should never act on those feelings. It would be the end of their friendship.

As the sun began to go down Sora came back from the house with plates and plates of grilled meat. Everyone rushed forward, excited to eat. Orihime laughed as Ishida made a joke, and poured maple syrup on her hot dog. Wait, _maple syrup?_ Rukia though, puzzled, as she saw Orihime add an orange slice on top. She had…odd tastes.

"Looking at Orihime's food?" Ichigo asked from behind Rukia. She nodded and laughed. "Yeah, she has incredibly odd food tastes. Like fish pudding with bean paste—now that was nasty! You get used to it after a while."

"Yeah, I guess so. It's just so…_bleck!"_ Rukia responded, pretending to gag. Ichigo laughed merrily, loving Rukia's silly humor.

"I will agree on that one." The two sat down in the sand and ate their hotdogs and hamburgers together, talking between bites. The conversation from two days ago was forgotten. Ichigo loved Rukia's musical voice. He was utterly entranced by it and could do nothing to stop the feeling. He was just being pulled in by her glowing aura. After a pause in the conversation the two realized that they were leaning toward each other comically, faces barely a foot apart. They both blushed and sat up straight again, setting their empty plates on the ground.

"Sorry." Rukia said, blushing and smiling goofily. Ichigo laughed.

"Yeah, me too. Just part of life!" The two started to talk again but were interrupted by a commotion across the beach. Renji had been trying to give Tatsuki a kiss from behind apparently because now he was being whirled in the air. Tatsuki could be terrifying and terrifyingly strong when she was mad.

"RENJI, I SWEAR I WILL FEED YOU TO THE SHARKS IF YOU DON'T STOP!" Renji cowered, trying to get down from above Tatuski's head.

"AH! I'm so sorry, Tatsuki! I'll never do it again!"

"Forgiven!" For good measure, she threw him into the water, laughing maniacally the entire time. Everyone applauded her, and seeing that she had an audience she mock bowed, blowing kisses to everyone.

"Ah, Tatsuki." Ichigo said happily.

"Ah, Renji." Rukia said, shaking her head in disapproval. Tatsuki slapped five with Kira who was, as usual, drunk by this point with _Sapporo._ Everyone was in high spirits by this point, whether it be from alcohol or just a good time.

"Come take a walk with me." Rukia said, tugging on Ichigo's hand.

"Yeah, alright." He responded, heaving himself up and helping Rukia. Rukia noticed that after he'd helped her up, he held on to her hand for a moment longer before taking it away and moving it back to his side. She smiled at the gesture. The two ambled up the beach, walking toward the ocean—away from everyone else. The sun was setting, painting vivid reds, purples, and oranges across the darkening sky. On the opposite horizon it was already dark, clouds threatening. But the two didn't pay any head to that. After walking in companionable silence for a moment, Rukia bent down and poked at a rather large red lump in the sand. Ichigo stopped a few meters away and looked on with some interest.

"Hey, Ichi! It's a crab!" She said with vigor. Ichigo smirked at the nickname but responded.

"Make sure it doesn't pinch you. It hurts." Rukia just laughed and poked it again. She watched in fascination as the ten legs extended from the shell and found purchase in the wet sand. The pincers were enormous, at least six inches across. Rukia poked the shell again until two beady black eyes showed from under the shell. Then the crab scuttled forward, snapping its pincers. Rukia's eyes widened as it crawled toward her, probably annoyed at being bothered. She yelped and ran as fast as she could toward Ichigo, who was looking in the opposite direction toward the ocean. Looking behind her, she could see that the crab was still following her.

Reaching Ichigo, she jumped on his back, holding on to him for dear life and nearly strangling him in the process. Caught by surprise, Ichigo almost toppled over. He tried to regain his balance, weaving around. "AH! ICHIGO, THE CRAB IS AFTER ME!" Rukia screamed, wrapping one hand around his neck, the other threading its way in Ichigo's orange locks and clamping onto them hard. Ichigo winced.

"Agh, Rukia! I told you to be careful! Crabs are _not_ bunnies, okay?"The crab was still headed in their direction, scrabbling across the sand and snapping its pincers loudly. Rukia closed her eyes and buried her head in Ichigo's shoulder, whimpering.

"Don't worry, Rukia! I won't let it bite you. I need you to get off of me, though, or it will bite _me._ I'd appreciate not getting bitten." Rukia looked up and saw the crab getting dangerously close.

"Are you sure it won't?"

"Yes, Rukia. I'm sure." Rukia hesitantly jumped down, hiding behind Ichigo's tall figure. He approached the crab and grabbed it by its shell, flinging it into the water. "There. All gone." Rukia smiled, slightly embarrassed at her episode, and fiddled with her hair.

"Thank you, Ichi." She said. Ichigo grinned, thinking of a fitting payment for the grief. He turned around, evil smile still on face. Rukia caught on quickly. "Oh, no you don't." She said before running the other way. Although she was fast, Ichigo was faster. He quickly caught up and tackled her, bringing them both tumbling in the sand. He rolled so he was on top of her and started tickling her mercilessly, bringing laughter and tears from her.

"Ah! Ich—Ichi—go! St—stop!" She said, barely managing to get the words out between laughs. Ichigo was laughing too, enjoying this. After a few minutes of torturing Rukia, he decided that she'd had enough. He ceased tickling her but stayed where he was, breathing hard. Rukia caught her breath, brushing the tears away from her eyes.

"Ichigo, you will pay for that." She said before deftly pushing Ichigo and rolling over, giving her the advantage over him. He lifted her off, though, smirking.

"You can't do that, Midget." He said, provoking her even further.

"I'm not a midget, Strawberry!" She yelled, kicking his shin. He winced and rubbed his shin but quickly grinned. They were both just playing around with each other. From a ways away the others watched the two, trying to hide their laughter. Everyone was watching Ichigo and Rukia and the whole crab incident, but the two would never know that. The next time anyone looked back, the two were lying in the sand together, pointing out constellations. It was late at night, perhaps almost midnight, but no one wanted to leave. Sora was in deep discussion with Ishida and Orihime, who were sitting on a blanket together. Tatsuki and Renji were telling jokes and playing thumb wars together, laughing quietly. Gin and Rangiku were…well, let's say that they weren't worried about anyone else because they were rather focused on each other. Urahara was joking around with Yoruichi, who was laughing and roughing around with him. Chad was still swimming despite the water's temperature, and Kira was passed out next to the cooler. Overall it was a peaceful sight.

That is, until a flash of lightning lit the scene in black and white and a clap of thunder practically deafened everyone. Rain started to pound down on everything immediately, soaking everyone and all of their belongings. "We better go inside!" Sora yelled over the noise to everyone. Chad quickly got back from the water and grabbed a few things to bring inside, including Kira. Everyone hurriedly grabbed beach chairs, towels, and other things as they dashed for Sora's and Orihime's house. Ichigo and Rukia, of course, were still quite a way up the beach.

"Oh, shit!" Rukia cried, watching the rain pelt down on the beach and on them. Ichigo cursed in a few foreign languages before starting to run toward everyone and toward the house. Rukia, unfortunately, couldn't quite keep up.

"Ichigo, wait!" Rukia yelled after him, unable to run at his speed. He slid to a stop and waited for Rukia. When she was just reaching him, he flung her up onto his back and continued running, a rather shocked woman riding piggyback style and holding on for dear life. Lightning flashed again, closer this time, and Ichigo almost tripped on a rock protruding from the sandy ground. Urahara was the only one in sight now, waving at them frantically while running up the path. Ichigo picked up his pace, his long legs flying. Ichigo reached the path and let Rukia down, breathing hard. The two sprinted up the path and into the house, flinging open the door and sliding in.

Everyone was drying off, Sora putting all of the beach equipment in a corner of the room. "You're alright?" Orihime asked, rushing up to both of them. They nodded and looked around. The room was a very odd one. The back wall—facing the inlet—was entirely glass, with the kitchen hard up against it in the middle. On either side were sofas, loveseats, chairs, and beanbags. The overall impression was a rather odd one. A staircase leading down lay in the middle of the room, making the place seem almost mysterious. A disco ball readily ruined the effect, though, as it hung above the staircase. There were doors on the side walls, placed seemingly randomly. Rangiku and Gin were resting on a loveseat, Kira passed out on a beanbag. Renji and Tatsuki were raiding the fridge while Sora tried to get everything more or less in order. He tried to get everyone's attention, which ultimately failed. Yoruichi, noticing this, helped him.

"HEY, EVERYONE ZIPPIT!" Everyone zipped it. Sora gave Yoruichi an appreciative look and continued.

"It's raining really hard out there so it looks like you'll have to stay the night. I'm not sure why, but I have plenty of sleeping bags, a few air mattresses, a spare room, and the couches. Are you guys in agreement?" Everyone who was conscious nodded their heads. Everyone settled down after a while, organizing their things and setting up air mattresses around the room.

"Hey, Orihime? Do you have a shower by any chance?" Rukia asked the girl after a while. She was sandy and really didn't enjoy the feeling. Orihime nodded cheerfully and point to one of the doors.

"Yup! There are towels in there, so use those."

"Thanks! You're a life saver."

"Oh, it's no problem Kuchiki-san—"

"Rukia. Please call me Rukia."

"Okay…Rukia." Orihime corrected herself with a smile.

Rukia disappeared into the bathroom and Orihime went back to setting up an air mattress. Ichigo was, by this point, relaxing on a beanbag chair, talking to Renji—who was stuffing himself with chips. It was late at night, but the moon couldn't be seen; it was hidden behind a screen of dark clouds. Urahara and Yoruichi had ended up sleeping in the guest room—"I'm your boss, my wife is pregnant! I should get the extra room!"—and everyone else around the main room. Rangiku and Gin were still on the couch, their heads touching. Kira had been moved to a couch but was still out cold. Chad took a sleeping bag on the floor, placing it in the corner of the room. Ishida was reading a book on the floor, sitting up against the wall. Orihime and Sora were going around, making sure that everyone was comfortable. Tatsuki was snoring away on an air mattress, looking actually quite funny.

It was an odd scene indeed. If one were to walk in at that moment, they'd probably be thinking, _Why did Sora open a boarding house for beach bums?_ After half an hour, Rukia came out of the bathroom in a change of clothes she had so wisely brought. Ichigo looked up and waved at her, grinning a bit drunkenly. She plopped down next to him, patting him on the head.

"Hey, Strawberry. How're ya' doing?" Ichigo smirked at the nickname.

"I'm fine. And how about yourself, Midget?"

"_Baka!_ I'm not a midget!"

"You're vertically challenged, admit it." Rukia punched him lightly but smiled again. Admittedly, it was all too true. She wasn't even five feet tall, while Ichigo was over six. The difference in height didn't affect their relationship, though. Rukia, tired as she was, leaned her head against Ichigo's shoulder, sighing and closing her eyes. Ichigo leaned his head against hers, looking down at her small form. _You may be a midget, Rukia…but you're my midget._


	6. Chapter 6

"Not the lawn mower!" Renji yelled, jumping off the couch and tripping over Ichigo, tumbling to the ground. He opened his eyes and groaned, looking around. Everyone was just waking up and laughing at this spectacle. Ichigo was rubbing his head and eyeing Renji with menace in his eyes.

"_Baka!_ What the hell were you dreaming about, huh? Did you _have _to run me over in the process?" Renji grinned at him and stood up, rubbing his head. By this time most everyone present was awake, yawning and laughing. Tatsuki was already in the fridge, searching for some kind of good food. "Sorry, man. I didn't really know what I was dreaming of…blame my subconscious." Ichigo smirked and unclenched his fists. No fight would have to take place. Ichigo, incidentally, had fallen asleep on the floor after talking to Renji for awhile, Rukia right beside him. He looked down and saw her arms wrapped around his chest, hugging him tightly for warmth. He blushed but smiled genuinely at the gesture. Her face was just starting to move, eyes fluttering and mouth moving slightly. She opened her eyes fully and saw someone's shirt. Ichigo's shirt.

She yelped slightly and quickly unwrapped her death grip from around him. He laughed and patted her head. "Um, sorry Ichigo! I, uh…didn't know I had actually done…that."

"Hey, don't worry. We both fell asleep in the wrong place, so it's understandable." Rukia smiled and stood up, smoothing out her jean shorts and tank top. It was neon yellow and had black letters that read _"Live, Love, Laugh, ROCK"_, giving a general statement that was frankly a very good one. Ichigo stood up slowly, stretching his legs out and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Sora appeared in the doorway to the main room, smiling tentatively.

"Did everyone sleep well?" A chorus of "yes" met his ears, making him nod his head and walk into the room. Everyone was fighting to shower first—except Rukia. She was sitting on the couch, laughing her head off at these goons. Ichigo ended up wrestling Renji and winning, so he took first shower. Gin and Rangiku had skipped showers and were talking to Sora.

"Hey, Rukia!" Rangiku called her, waving her arms toward herself. "Come here!" Rukia stood up and walked over, groaning at how sore she was. Rangiku pulled her into a crushing hug. "Gin and I are going to catch a bus to his place, okay? I'll see you back at our place in a little while, 'kay?"

Rukia raised her eyebrows at Gin, who was kissing and whispering into Rangiku's ear, causing her to giggle. "Yeah, fine. Just…never mind." Rangiku and Gin waltzed out the door without another word, laughing and flicking each other. Ichigo walked out of the bathroom and was immediately tackled by Renji.

"Damnit, Strawberry! I was going to take first shower, but _no!_ You had to go and pull the headlock on me!" Ichigo twisted out of Renji's grasp and sent him sprawling to the floor.

"I'm stronger than you are, Pineapple-head. It's a fact, so get used to it." With that, he sat down again, paying Renji no heed. When things had finally settled down a bit, Ichigo jumped up and yelled, "Oh, shit! Wait…no, shit! Oh, I'm dead! Wait…NO!" And started running toward the door, making everyone laugh. Just as he was reaching to open the door, a strong hand grabbed onto his shirt, jerking him back. He turned around, utterly bewildered. The shocked expression only heightened when he realized who had stopped him.

"Rukia?"

"Explain why you made that rather amusing revelation before you leave."

"No time! I didn't plan on staying the night, and now I'm going to be ultra-late for classes!" Rukia laughed and patted Ichigo's arm sympathetically.

"You really don't have many brain cells, do you? It's Thursday today, and you said you graduated next week. You usually don't go to classes after final exams, which I'm sure are over by now…so I'm guessing you're mistaken." An understanding expression dawned on Ichigo's face, and he turned around fully, scratching his head.

"Oh, _yeah…_now I remember…"

"Well, you didn't go to class yesterday, so it stands to reason…" Ichigo took on a scowl as she spoke with a mocking tone.

"Shut up, Midget! I'm just into that routine! OW!" Rukia had kicked him in the shin, causing him to stumble. He bent over and rubbed his shin, which was a mistake. Rukia hit him over the head with a very powerful fist. "Jesus, Rukia! Are you planning on killing me?" Rukia grinned evilly, hands on hips.

"Not if you don't call me midget. Otherwise, you will die." Ichigo's frown deepened but he said nothing. Rukia's mischievous grin grew ear to ear. "Good boy." With that she walked back to the couch she had been sitting on and sat back down, acting as if nothing had happened. Everyone was attempting to contain their laughter except Kira, who was moaning about how much his head hurt. Rukia flicked his head, eliciting a piteous wail from him.

"_Baka!_ I told you not to get drunk!" Urahara and Yoruichi were both awake by now, Yoruichi laughing as Urahara tried to listen to her stomach, which looked rather comical. Orihime was packing everything up, preparing to leave. Rukia and Renji were also discussing the subject of leaving; or rather the subject of how to get Kira to leave in the state he was in. Sora had disappeared into a side room—probably his bedroom. Rukia walked over to Ichigo, a deep frown on her face, making her eyebrows scrunch together.

"Hey, Ichigo?"

"Yes, M—er, Rukia?"

"I'll let that one go. Could you help me with Kira? You and Renji need to haul his sorry ass out to the car. He's absolutely hammered. Who decided to bring the alcohol?"

"Who do you think?" Rukia rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb over in Urahara's general direction. Everybody was tired and worn out from the night before, but in high spirits nonetheless.

"Yeah, okay. I'll help you." Ichigo walked over to where Renji was standing over Kira and took him under his arms. Renji grabbed his shoes and picked him up, barely using any energy. Two toned, well-muscled men picking up one drunkard was no challenge whatsoever. They shuffled their way across the floor, smiling and simultaneously thinking about how funny it would be to drop the semi-conscious man on the floor. After negotiating the door with Rukia's help, they plopped him in the back of her shiny convertible. Ichigo wiped his hands on his pants and admired the car, looking at the interior's leather upholstery and glowing dashboard. It was sleek and low to the ground, a fancy job. The paint looked custom, vibrant and new without a single scratch to taint the overall effect.

Renji slid into the passenger seat, not bothering to open the door but instead throwing his leg over the side. Rukia, though, took the time to open the door and sit down and seat herself properly. She smiled up at Ichigo and winked. "I'll catcha' later, Kurosaki. Good seeing you again." Renji suppressed laughter and earned a hit upside the head from Rukia before she drove off, waving back to Ichigo as she drove out of sight around the trees and winding path. Ichigo sighed at the events of yesterday. They had already gotten quite close, and Ichigo could tell that his feelings for the woman were growing quite rapidly. He just hoped that the same went for her.

Rukia relaxed into her seat and accelerated, smiling as the wind whipped her hair around her face. It was always a rush to drive fast on a road with no other cars—right now was the perfect example. The three were on a country road, not having reached Karakura or its suburbs just yet. They could still smell the salt from the ocean, which sent Rukia for one on a high. She was energized and happy from the previous night and the morning. Kira wasn't feeling the same, though. He was still moaning in the back, massaging his temples.

"Ah, my head!" He wailed, sitting up for the first time and looking at the two in the front seat. "Hey, where's Rangiku and Gin?" Renji rolled his eyes and answered without glancing back.

"They went to his house to screw around. You didn't even notice that? Man, how many _Sapporo_ and did you have, Kira?" Kira scratched his head slowly before answering.

"I kinda lost track after the tenth…" Renji slapped his head in frustration and groaned.

"You have _got_ to stop drinking, Kira! You need to be sober so we can be a band, damnit!" Kira grinned and agreed, though the gesture was taken none too seriously by either Renji or Rukia. As Rukia drove up a ramp and onto the freeway, she rolled the top up with the touch of a button, sealing out the roaring sound of wind created by the car's speed. The three didn't talk again until they got back to their apartment. The silence wasn't awkward, wasn't friendly. For once it was just because they didn't know what to say.

_"Come on, Onii-chan! Hurry up or you'll miss it!"_

_ "I'm coming, Yuzu." The five people nimbly climbed a tree in the back of their house, all laughing and throwing branches at each other. Ichigo was the first to reach the top despite his delayed start, and held his camera above his head, hollering like a maniac. "Beat you guys!" Isshin wailed in disappointment and hurried to the roof, narrowly avoiding Ichigo's well-aimed throw of a rather sharp branch. Yuzu, Karin, and Masaki followed, laughing and jumping around on the relatively flat roof._

_ After a few minutes, Ichigo motioned for them to sit down. They obeyed, sitting in a line by the roof. The sun stained the sky orange and pink, like a masterpiece come to life. Ichigo placed his camera farther up the roof and hurried to join the others, sitting between his sisters and smiling softly. The camera clicked and a blinding light flashed, leaving him momentarily blinded. He got up and grabbed the camera, checking to see how the picture had come out. After giving the thumbs up to the other four, they climbed back down, Karin jumping to the ground expertly. Ichigo tossed his camera down, hoping someone would catch it._

_ "Got it!" Masaki yelled up before returning to the comfort of their home. Ichigo stayed on the roof, watching the sun sink below the horizon, providing light for someone else somewhere else. He laid back, hands clasped behind head. What a beautiful night it was. All of the constellations were visible, their sparkling light illuminating everything around Ichigo. He smiled and closed his eyes halfway, letting the breeze ruffle his hair and stir his clothes._

Ichigo hit himself in the head and focused on his computer screen once again. He stared at his keyboard. It wasn't working. He'd been uninspired for a while now and thought that sitting down and making himself pound out a few more chapters of his book would help things. He was all too wrong. He just couldn't focus. He kept thinking about his past. He kept thinking about his present. He kept thinking about Rukia. He groaned and ran a hand through his unruly hair, finally giving up and slamming the sleek laptop closed. He slid the laptop into its case and sank slowly back onto the couch. The setting sun was no longer visible—dark rain clouds had made the city look gray and dreary. At least it hadn't begun to rain yet.

_Plink._ Scratch that. The rain started to pour down, hammering on Ichigo's apartment windows. He ignored this and thought about the past two days. He had gotten home a few hours ago, glad that his trip home hadn't been in the rain—he had ridden his Vespa from Urahara's nightclub back home. Ichigo thought about his time spent with Rukia, which was no doubt time well spent. He couldn't help but notice that their relationship had grown drastically in the short time they'd known each other. He thought about the petite, raven-haired girl with the most beautiful violet eyes he'd ever seen. And after thinking about her and only her he realized that he had feelings for her past friendly. He really _liked_ her.

"Ugh. I'm turning into an emo." He muttered aloud, smacking his face and leaning back into the couch. In all honesty he had never in his entire life had such feelings for a person. He loved his mother, his sisters, even his father, but that was a different kind of love. It was sweet and tender, not at all like the fire he felt for Rukia. He didn't want to admit it, but deep in his mind some part of him acknowledged that he was falling for her. Falling _hard._

He got up and dragged himself to the fridge, pulling a bottle of _Sapporo_ out of the top shelf and popping the top, taking a long drink from it. Although he wasn't much of a drinker, he did sometimes have a bottle or two when he didn't want to think. Right now was one of those times, because although he was an adult he had absolutely no experience with love and didn't know what to make of it. _I'm absolutely hopeless. I might as well give it up now…_He took another swig of beer, shutting out thought and leaving his mind blank. It was better that way.

After finishing his drink, Ichigo padded down the short hallway to his bedroom. Though he still had plenty on his mind, the alcohol had left him slightly drowsy, and it was getting late—he'd spent a good long time at Urahara's with the gang, goofing off and thinking of baby names for Yoruichi. He pulled his shirt off and threw it across the room, landing it perfectly in his hamper. He then slid his jeans off, leaving them on the floor for when he woke up. Yawning and stretching, he climbed into his bed and flicked the light switch, bathing himself in blackness. He lay on top of his blankets, too sleepy to bother pulling them over him. Instead, he fell into a restless sleep, dreaming about Kuchiki Rukia.

Meanwhile, Rukia was attempting to fall asleep in her apartment, not quite as successful as Ichigo was. She turned over, facing Rangiku, who was sleeping soundly. She turned again, this time facing the wall. She groaned and finally settled for lying on her back, knowing that she wouldn't be getting a lot of sleep. She was too preoccupied. With what?

She was thinking.

Thinking about Ichigo.

He was, admittedly, darn close to perfect. His eyes were beautiful, his hair was funny, his body was perfectly toned, his laugh was exquisite, his personality and sense of humor were flawless; his character was untainted in every way. Rukia pounded her head with her fists, trying to make her betraying thoughts leave her mind. It did not work in the slightest. She sighed and thought about how she'd started to understand Ichigo in the short time she'd known him. Everything about him was appealing to her. _Everything._ She was under his spell, and no one could break it.

This was a disaster.

As dawn broke, the clouds of the storm from the previous night started to drift apart. The patchy sunlight hit Ichigo's tired face, making him stir in his fitful sleep. His eyes fluttered, dark eyelashes leaving shadows along his cheekbones. After a moment he opened his amber eyes fully, immediately squinting at the sun's sudden and unwanted appearance. Shading his vision with the back of a hand, Ichigo groaned and blinked a few times, trying to wake up fully.

He shook out his limbs, flexing his fingers and toes before sitting up slowly. Not slowly enough. A wave of dizziness washed over him, forcing him to lie right back down. It certainly wasn't the drink—he'd only had one, and couldn't possibly have gotten drunk from that amount of alcohol—so he was either sick or just not well rested. Most likely the latter. He hesitantly sat up again, achingly slowly this time. There was no dizziness, nor any other signs of being sick. Definitely the latter. He clenched and unclenched his fists, mulling over recent events.

His mind came to rest on Rukia, and he noticed with quite some embarrassment that his cheeks heated up and were no doubt a nice shade of red. He sighed and pulled his jeans on, not paying much attention to what he was doing—it was only when he fell face first onto the carpet did he realize he had put his foot through the ripped knee of his jeans. He growled at the jeans, not really expecting a response, and carefully tugged them on. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he wandered into the kitchen and smiled at his empty calendar. He only had to go to graduation next week and then he was done for life. He didn't intend on going to graduate school so he had a whole life ahead of him to become a successful businessman and own his own nightclub.

He could do whatever he damn wanted, and not get yelled at, not be late for anything. The downside to being out of college was that he would be visiting his family more often…more specifically, his _dad._ The most immature, silly, eccentric, pervy person in the world—including teenage boys. He thoroughly enjoyed visiting his mother and two younger sisters, but he really didn't get along with his father. Their relationship during high school had been a rather odd one, since they showed affection by attempting to kill each other.

Ichigo pulled his mind from memories and back to the present. After taking a plum out of the fridge and getting a glass of apple juice, he sat down by the couch and turned on the TV. Some old 80's show was playing, a grainy film with a cheesy plot and music that was just painful to listen to. He quickly flipped the channel and ignored the news, just having the TV on because it was what he did in the morning. The phone rang loudly, making Ichigo jump and almost spill his juice. He set the glass down on the coffee table and ran to answer.

"Kurosaki speaking."

_"No need for formalities, Ichigo."_ Rukia said, a smile in her voice. Ichigo laughed and leaned against the kitchen counter, at ease and happy.

"Oh, I'm sorry. 'Sup, homie? I's yo' man, Ichigo. There, is that good for you?" He heard laughing at the other end of the phone and joined in.

_"That was very good, mister gangsta'! You know what I mean. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today—ah, that sounded like what a teenager would say. Well, I—"_

"Sure. I'm absolutely thrilled that I don't have class, so let's celebrate. Hah, that sounded strangely self-serving."

_"No it didn't. Seriously, it would be fun. Why don't we go to _Seireitei_ since you don't have to work on the weekdays? Believe me, I'm sure working there has dulled the sense of awesomeness, but if you went as a customer you'd probably have that feeling of how cool the place is back."_ Ichigo smiled and thought for a minute. If Urahara saw this, which he most likely would, Ichigo would never hear the end of it. However, it did sound like a lot of fun and he couldn't help but notice that his heart was racing just from talking to her.

"So it's a date. Er, not really a date, but—"

_"Ha! No, I get it."_

"I'll see you at nine. I'll pick you up."

_"Good—I absolutely adore your Vespa."_ Ichigo chuckled at Rukia's odd obsession about motor scooters, but agreed quickly before saying goodbye and hanging up. He was left with a foreign emotion making his stomach flutter, making his head spin in a good way. Unfortunately, he was stuck for twelve hours waiting, which at the time seemed practically impossible. How could he wait when he wanted so much to see Rukia? Realizing his thoughts, he blushed and thought about something else. There was no doubt about it, though. He was falling in love with her.


	7. Chapter 7

Rukia groaned and rolled her eyes as Rangiku made her try on yet another top at another store. It was seven o'clock, and Rangiku had insisted upon Rukia looking amazing for Ichigo…hence, they were in the huge downtown shopping mall, trying to find something 'suitable' for her to wear. Rukia eyed the racks and racks of clothing in the random department store, trying to find anything she liked so she could get the hell out of the place.

"There—I'll try that on." Rukia said, pointing to a top. Rangiku beamed and held it up, approving her choice. It was blood colored and was designed like a slouchy sweater. One side was lower than the other, showing one's shoulder. The shirt bagged out before becoming fitted ending in a ribbed band that more closely fit the sweater style. Although it was June and the sweater looked more for December, Rukia tried it on and found it quite nice.

"There, Rangiku." Rukia said in exasperation as she handed her credit card to the clerk. "We are done shopping. _Done._" Rangiku laughed and patted Rukia's head lovingly.

"Well, at least your sense of fashion isn't _completely_ hopeless. Since I know you won't be forced into shopping for shorts or pants, I guess jeans would look alright with it. But shoes—"

"You know I'm going to wear my Converse shoes, Rangiku. Even though they're literally falling apart, I'm wearing my Converse." Rangiku laughed and looked down—she was wearing the high-tops as they spoke.

"After the gig today, I'd say we're getting pretty popular. I mean, it was the first place that's just a concert hall, and it was overflowing! This is so cool, and—"

"Excuse me?" The clerk interrupted, looking slightly amazed. "You—you're The Time, aren't you? I recognize you two from—"

"From what?"

"The ad on TV for your concert earlier today. Oh, wow! You're the lead singer and drummer! I get to meet you personally! I'm a big fan. Believe me; you're more popular than you could ever think." The clerk said admiringly, looking at the two women with a smile on his face.

"Here, take this free—"

"No. Just because we're famous does not mean we're gods. We will pay for this, and will still be back. I promise." Rukia said, smiling at the clerk and taking the bag in her hand. She was surprised that he had recognized her, but with the full house at the concert earlier in the day, she began to realize how famous the four were beginning to get. Her train of thought was broken by a wheeze as Rangiku hugged the clerk with a certain amount of vigor.

"Ooh, a fan! We love you, love you, _love you!_" She squealed, planting kisses all over his face before rushing out of the store with Rukia in tow, confused as ever and shooting apologetic looks back at the bemused man.

"Honestly, Rangiku. You can't do that to everyone who recognizes us. After all, if we really are getting famous, more and more people will recognize us." Rukia scolded her as the two rushed through the mall and back to Rukia's convertible. Rangiku just laughed and jumped into the car, carelessly throwing the bag into the cramped backseat.

Rangiku decided to change the subject back to Ichigo, who Rukia undeniably liked. "So, when you kiss him tonight—"

"_Woah! Woah!_ Slow down that mouth or I'll tie your tongue in a knot. I never said I would be kissing Ichigo. I am simply hanging out with him tonight. Comprendes? Sí? Honestly, woman. We're friends. That's all." _That's not all._

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you like him, so just admit it." Rukia sighed and concentrated on the road, navigating rather heavy traffic. _You do like him._ Rukia gave in grudgingly, knowing that Rangiku would wheedle it out of her eventually.

"I do like him. More than I care to admit. What's happening to me?" Rukia said quietly, her words almost lost in the wind whipping their hair back. Rangiku smiled smugly at her.

"I knew it. You've never liked anyone that way before, have you?" Rukia shook her head, feeling more confused than she had in a long time.

"No. I mean, why do I like him? He's sarcastic, never smiles, has weird hair, and enjoys tickling the hell out of me."

"You like him because he's kind, has a good sense of humor, and really does care about you. You can't deny that you—"

"I'm not denying it!" Rukia said, rather loudly. Then she but her lip. "Sorry. I just…I don't know…it's so damn confusing! Is this really what love is like? Because if it is, love sucks."

"It's only the beginning part that's. The rest is awesome." Rukia groaned and resisted the urge to drive the car into a ditch. She couldn't admit it to him. She just couldn't. What would her brother say? What would he _do?_ He had always been very protective of Rukia, and if he knew about her feelings, would he approve? Or would he just go have a little "talk" with Ichigo? She had been raised to be very together and show no emotions. She shouldn't change now, right?

"Yeah…well, I'm not going to be kissing him tonight. Believe me." Rangiku snorted in a failed attempt to cover her laughter. The rest of the ride to their apartment was in silence, Rangiku giggling and Rukia seething. When the two got back, Rukia first dressed herself in her new top, jeans, and of course the trademark Converse high-tops. Following, Rangiku made her sit in front of the bathroom mirror and close her eyes. Rukia felt her hair being twisted and pulled up, wondering what the heck it would look like when her crazy friend was done with it. Something soft brushed along her cheekbones, making her laugh—after all, she was extremely ticklish. After what seemed like hours but was most likely thirty minutes, Rangiku instructed Rukia to open her eyes. She did so. And gasped.

Her hair was curled, the individual curls pinned up around her head. Two ringlets fell in her face, which was made up beautifully. Her eyes were lined perfectly and her eyelashes were lengthened and colored with silver mascara. Along with the silver eye shadow, her eyes looked wide, bright, and almost inhuman. The silver brought out the violet very well, which pleased Rukia very much. A small amount of blush stained her cheeks pink, and her lips glistened with clear lip gloss. Rukia smiled up at Rangiku, who looked fairly pleased herself, and hugged her.

"Thanks, Rangiku! It may look a little crazy and formal, but I love it!" Rangiku laughed and hugged her back.

"I'm baaack!" Renji yelled, opening the door and plopping a few grocery bags onto the kitchen counter. Rangiku smiled and waltzed into the kitchen, checking to make sure he'd bought everything she wanted. When the four had moved in together and started their band, they had decided that Rangiku would do the cooking, Rukia would to the cleaning, and Kira and Renji would buy all of the food and cleaning supplies. It had worked out perfectly, considering the other three were hopeless cooks.

Kira trailed behind Renji, sober and smiling. He had agreed that he wouldn't drink on days that they had gigs—maybe a little after, but not enough to get drunk. The two men sweat dropped at the sight of Rukia, who was—to them—overly dressed up. "What happened to you?" Renji asked as she stopped in the kitchen and sat at the stool. She laughed and patted Renji on the head, who was very confused.

"I'm going to _Seireitei_ with Ichigo since he only works there on weekends." Kira raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, turning his attention to Rangiku.

"So, what's for dinner?" Rangiku started to unpack the groceries, setting some on the counter and putting others in the refrigerator.

"I'm making shrimp tempura. _Duh,_ that's why I had you go get fresh shrimp." Kira waved his hand dismissively and searched a cupboard for chips. His hand was smacked away by Rangiku's, who glared at him angrily.

"It's past eight, which means we're eating _soon._ Don't go eating anything that will ruin your appetite!" Renji suppressed laughter. Kira's eye twitched.

"Jesus, lady! You're worse than my mother!"

"I'll take that as a compliment, then!" Rangiku said, beaming, before she turned the stove on and set a pot on the burner. Rukia paced the apartment nervously, checking the time every two minutes. She was anxious about seeing Ichigo. She wanted to think of him as just a friend, but she was afraid that when she saw him she would lose it. checking the time every two minutes. She was anxious about seeing Ichigo. She wanted to think of him as just a friend, but she was afraid that when she saw him she would lose it. At eight fifty-five, she grabbed her purse from her bedroom and waved at the other three, hurrying to the elevator and tapping her foot the whole way down.

The door dinged and slid open, revealing the lobby. She smiled at the concierge and sat down on one of the brightly colored couches, waiting. Suddenly, hands covered her eyes, making her jump. "Boo." His voice said, playfully and happily. Rukia laughed, getting over her initial shock, and smacked his hands playfully.

"Hey, Ichigo. Let me see." Ichigo laughed and took his hands off her eyes, standing straight again. Rukia stood up also, turning around and smiling. When Ichigo saw fully, his breath caught in his throat and he couldn't quite get words out. Her eyes were the first thing her noticed, the bright purple brought out by shining silver makeup. Her shirt was very unique, a crimson sweater that drooped on one side, showing her shoulder. He finally cleared his throat and managed to speak.

"W-wow, Rukia. You look amazing." Rukia blushed and smiled, looking over Ichigo. He was wearing a white shirt with buttons down the front, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He also wore jeans, as they both seemed to always do. To finish the outfit, he wore matching Converse—red ones, but still high-tops. The two gazed at each other for a moment before the silence was broken.

"Thank you, Ichigo. You look great, too." Ichigo smiled and offered Rukia his hand, which she took as they walked out into the city, alive with nightlife. Ichigo's Vespa was curbed, right next to a "Do Not Park" sign. Rukia laughed and grabbed a helmet, climbing nimbly onto the back of the motor scooter and putting her purse around her shoulder and under one arm, as Ichigo had instructed her what seemed like ages ago.

She wrapped her hands around his waist, not embarrassed about the gesture any longer. She sighed and rested her head against Ichigo's back, watching the city flash by. Ichigo smiled at her touch, not knowing that she felt the same way. Though the two both admitted to themselves their feelings, neither completely accepted it and neither wanted to share those feelings.

As before, Ichigo performed a few death-defying swerves, once almost scraping his knee on the pavement. Rukia's stomach was lurching by the time he screeched to a halt in front of _Seireitei_. The parking lot was overflowing, Fridays the most popular day of business. The heads of manufacturing companies and big executives were all there to celebrate the end of the week and take it easy. Rukia's hands lingered on Ichigo's defined waist for a moment before slowly sliding back to her sides reluctantly. She got off of the motor scooter while Ichigo nudged the kickstand into place and tied his helmet to a handle. Rukia did the same and they walked toward the entrance.

Lights pulsed through the windows, music shaking the ground even from fifty meters away. Another band was performing, most likely a famous one. The two walked through the door and into the frenzy of drinks and expensive suits. Yoruichi, who was scolding the bartender, immediately saw them and rushed over. Her stomach was getting visibly bigger, so that there would be no mistaking that she was expecting. She hugged Ichigo and Rukia, greeting them.

"_Konbonwa, __yūjin!_ It is so good to see you! Come, I'll get you places at the VIP seating!" Ichigo grinned and slapped her shoulder.

"_Kansha,_ Yoruichi. But I think a regular seat will be fine. Anyway, you want better business than us. I think I'll go over and say hi to Toshiro, though. I haven't seen him in a while." Yoruichi pointed them to a table in the corner, one with more privacy than the others.

"Mm, I love this place." Rukia said, entranced by the effect it had on her. Ichigo sat on one of the stools, playing with the candle in the middle of the table. Rukia sat down too, crossing her arms on the table and looking at Ichigo.

"Me too. It's always been a good place to work at, and a better place to visit when I'm not working. It's…I don't know…it's just relaxing. I mean, it's not the quietest place ever, but it's low key. You know what I mean?" Ichigo asked, leaning toward Rukia purposely. She nodded and smiled, cupping her cheek with one hand. After staring at each other for a minute, the moment was broken when someone walked up to the table.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Toshiro exclaimed, grinning and slapping hands with said man.

"Toshiro! Nice to see ya'!" Toshiro turned to Rukia and took on a more polite tone.

"You must be Kuchiki Rukia. It's nice to meet you—Hitsugaya Toshiro." Rukia took his hand that he had offered and shook it. She noticed that he was short, only a handful of centimeters taller than her. He had spiky white hair and bright turquoise eyes, which was an odd but interesting combination.

"_Yorokobi wa watashi no mono. _The pleasure is mine." Toshiro grinned and gave them both drink lists. The drink lists were as long as any menu in any restaurant and the entire menu was devoted to alcohol. Rukia whistled at the impressive selection. Ichigo smiled and handed the list back to Hitsugaya.

"I'm the bartender on the weekends, dude. I know the list just as well as you do. You already know what I want." Toshiro grinned and nodded. Rukia scanned the list and smiled mischievously—she was still twenty, but Toshiro had conveniently not asked for her license. A drink never hurt anyone. She quickly decided to order a cocktail since they were far less alcoholic.

"Hm…so much to choose from. I guess I'll have the Gin and tonic, shaken, over rocks." Toshiro raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to be knowledgeable about liquor." He said skeptically, noting that she looked young—in her early twenties, so probably just drinking.

"Ha—that would be thanks to my college. Art colleges were big on artful drinks…that's a whole story for another time, though." Toshiro laughed and dismissed the subject, noting her order and walking away with the lists. Ichigo was also very puzzled, aware of Rukia's age.

"You learned about cocktails…in _college?_"

"I went to Julliard. You know that. Everything there had to do with art, including the food and drink. Everyone knew how to make their cocktails and martinis, blah blah blah. Naturally I picked it up despite being young. By the way, thanks for taking me here despite me not being quite of age. I can handle it." Ichigo laughed.

"I know you can. If I didn't think that we could've gone somewhere else. Let me ask you something, Rukia…" Rukia cocked her head in curiosity and motioned for him to proceed. "Have you ever…um…had a boyfriend before? Just wondering." Ichigo's face felt very heated, and he looked at anything but Rukia. She felt the same way.

"Oh…no, not really. I mean, most people have but I've never really dated anyone before. Also…well, through high school my brother made it fairly clear that he did not want to see any boys in his house. Uh…" Rukia chuckled, slightly embarrassed by the fact that she'd never even seen anyone in light other than friend before Ichigo. She still didn't want to admit it to herself.

"Hm…interesting."

"What about you?" Rukia blurted out, regretting that she had. Ichigo blushed self-consciously but answered.

"Same as you—I've never even thought about going out with someone." _Until you._ "My father, on the other hand, was beside himself that he hadn't seen any girls in his house…weird perv that he is." Rukia laughed and met Ichigo's eyes, sinking into their depth.

"Well, at least he cared about you…to some extent."

"Yeah, that extent was about three millimeters long. He just wants grandkids. Stupid goat!" Rukia rolled her eyes and inspected the weekday staff. The bouncer was a bald man with what seemed like red eye makeup. He was having a conversation with a black-haired man with two feathers attached to his eye and eyebrow. Rukia made a face at these weird people. The two waitresses were a tall woman with a braid done under her chin, and a shorter woman with short black hair with two braids wrapped in white and ending in golden rings. Rukia raised her eyebrows at the strange group of people, but said nothing.

Ichigo, noticing Rukia's look, explained. "These are the weekday staff. Baldy there is the bouncer. His name's Madarame Ikkaku. The beauty queen he's talking to is Ayasegawa Yumichika. He's the financial manager and planner…basically Ishida's job. You met Hitsugaya Toshiro, a.k.a. Whitey. And then there's Soi Fon—the short one—OW—" from this he had earned a kick in the shin from Rukia since she was also short, "and the taller one is Unohana Retsu. Odd bunch, no doubt about it. But I like 'em just the same."

"Huh. Thanks for the update. I didn't really know who they were. I mean, I know that you only work here on the weekends, but…I didn't really know the other people."

"Well, now you do." Soi Fon came running up with two drinks sliding perilously on a tray. She effortlessly twirled the tray down to table height and placed the glasses in front of the two. Then she slapped Ichigo on the back.

"Hey, Strawberry! Long time, no see." Ichigo grimaced at the nickname, but Rukia couldn't stop laughing.

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia. It's nice to meet you."

"Soi Fon. It's a pleasure."

"Great with the Strawberry. I'm not the only one!"

"You too? Oh, this is too good!" Soi Fon doubled over in laughter, slapping her knees theatrically. Ichigo's eyes burned and his teeth were clenched so tightly that it hurt. Why were women always out to make fun of his hair or his name? After a minute of exchanging pleasantries and making fun of Ichigo, Soi Fon said that she had to get back to her job, and left. Rukia smiled at Ichigo from across the table, her violet eyes ablaze with excitement.

"You have got _great_ taste in friends, Ichigo. She's awesome! Concerning our sense of humor, I'd say we'd get along just fine." Ichigo sighed and smiled slowly, giving up at trying being mad. While the humor was at his expense, their exuberance had made him laugh.

"Yeah, she's a good friend. I know all of these misfits outside of work. I know Ikkaku and Toshiro from the dojo. Yumichika's the older brother of Yuzu's best friend. Unohana helps at my dad's clinic. Soi Fon is a childhood friend."

"Wow. I would say small world except the world really isn't small. I'm guessing that Urahara knows many of the people you know…" Ichigo pointed at her in confirmation.

"Bingo. He was basically my second dad, so he knew most of the people I knew as a child and know now as an adult." Rukia thought about it for a moment before taking a sip of her cocktail. Ichigo followed suit, taking a long drag, half finishing the beverage. Rukia stared at him with her mouth open. Had he really just drunk that much of whatever he had?

"What…what the _hell _is that that you're drinking, Ichigo?" Rukia asked slowly, watching him drain the glass and grin.

"It's called the _Bronx._ It's Gin, Dry Vermouth, Sweet Vermouth, and orange juice. Definitely has a high concentration of alcohol, but it is very, _very_ good. You want me to get you one?" Rukia eyed her almost full drink and looked back at Ichigo, wondering if he was insane.

"Ah, _no._" She then lowered her voice, making sure she wouldn't be overheard by anyone. "You know I'm not supposed to be drinking at all, so simple Gin is enough for me. I do _not_ need any Vermouth, dry or otherwise."

"Yeah, fair enough." Rukia smiled, stirring her drink with one long, elegant finger. Ichigo admired her subtle grace—she would've been one of the royals back in the renaissance somewhere in Western Europe, he decided. She looked up and smirked at his dazed expression.

"Did you suddenly lose the ability to speak, Ichigo?" Ichigo moved his mouth for a moment before speaking, making Rukia laugh quietly.

"Uh, no. No, not really. Just, erm…never mind."

"Mm." Rukia said, intoxicated by this man's very presence. Those eyes she had learned to love settled on hers, and she could have sworn her heart was about to stop. If it had, she would have died the happiest woman in the world. Rukia quickly shook her head and mentally scolding herself for thinking such silly things around Ichigo. Their awkward moment was broken when a fight broke out. Two well-dressed men were starting a catfight, slapping each other like sissies. Ikkaku rolled his eyes and strolled over, taking each by the collar and letting them hang in the air. The whole bar gasped collectively before bursting into laughter.

"Now, now, boys. This is a bar for well-behaved people. You aren't being well-behaved, so…" Ikkaku walked to the entrance, still dangling the men from their collars, and dropped them just outside the nightclub, throwing their belongings over to them. The two men were absolutely mortified and scurried away to a BMW, peeling out of the parking lot and into traffic.

Ikkaku got a standing ovation, which he accepted grudgingly, trying to make himself invisible. Ichigo snorted and turned his attention away from the man and back to Rukia. Ah, how funny Ikkaku could be…

"Rukia, did you by any chance play any sports at all? I have to admit you're fairly fast and strong for a m—I mean, for a shorter person." He still got a kick in the shin, Rukia smirking.

"I was on my high school track. I did one hundred meter sprint and long jump. You'd be surprised about how good I was."

"Surprise me."

"I ran the Hundred Meter in twelve seconds flat. My record for long jump was seventeen and two tenths feet. Surprised?"

"Yeah. Very. That's almost as good as my time!"

"You do track?" Ichigo nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Hell, yes! I love track. I did hurtles, too. Not to be bragging, but I was the best on my team."

"Not to brag, but so was I." The two were talking more competitively now, seeing who would challenge. Ichigo was.

"We're running. I don't know when, but we've got to time each other and race each other."

"Oh, it is _so_ on!" Ichigo laughed and shook hands with Rukia across the small round table, sealing the deal. He didn't let go of her hand for a moment, just not wanting to break contact. Rukia felt the same way, but finally they replaced their hands at their sides.

For the rest of the time they spent at the nightclub, the two made small talk, getting to know each other further. The whole time, they were thinking about how amazing the other was, not aware that they were both in love. If only they knew.

At about eleven, Ichigo paid the bill and walked Rukia out of the bar, on a high from Rukia—and maybe from the alcohol, too. He got on his Vespa, griping at the fact he had to drive, and sped onto the road, sending Rukia into shock. She crushed her body against his, mortified at his crazy driving. She looked at the back of his head.

"Hey up there! Maybe you could slow down! I don't particularly want to die!" Her voice was barely heard over the wind, but Ichigo slowed down substantially. Rukia relaxed a bit but remained where she was, her head resting against Ichigo's shoulder.

"Rukia? May I take you to a park? I used to go there when I was little…" Rukia smiled and nodded into his back, murmuring a yes. The moon and stars were blocked by rainclouds, which were developing rapidly. The only illumination came from the city lights and surrounding cars. Ichigo took a side road into a residential neighborhood. The houses were fairly nice—not overly ostentatious but comfortable to live in. He came to the end of the road and turned right, stopping in an empty parking lot. Around them was a well manicured lawn, the grass short and a lush green. Trees dotted the field, a few paths winding around. Benches were placed at random points throughout the path. Trees grew more thickly at the edges of the lawn, enclosing it and giving it a semi-magical feel. Nearest to the playground was a playground, complete with swings, see-saw, mini ropes course, and slides. Rukia laughed and jumped on a swing, swinging high in the air while standing on the swing.

Ichigo joined her, swinging so hard he almost was flipped in the air. After a few minutes of feeling weightless, he reached the peak of his ark and jumped, soaring into the air. He landed in a rather ninja-esque position, knees bent and one hand touching the ground. Rukia did the same thing, landing ten feet farther than him and seeming absolutely unharmed. The two laughed and began walking along the path. It reminded him of when he was a little boy. His mother used to take him to the park…

_"Look at me, Mommy! I'm going to touch the sky!" Masaki laughed and pushed her son higher, watching as he was swallowed up by the light of the sun. Other children ran around the playground, hooting and hollering in delight. Masaki let Ichigo drift to a stop, where he jumped off the swing and hugged her closely._

_ "Come, Ichigo. We shall walk in the park for a while. I would like to see what flowers are in bloom now."_

_ "Okay!" The two walked in silence, Ichigo's hand reaching up to hold his mother's. She ruffled his bright, unruly hair and took his hand, swinging it while they walked. Some people having picnics on the well-tended grass. Some were reading on the bench. A few children were hanging from high branches of the trees, shouting in excitement and imitating Tarzan. Someone came up behind him and gave him a bear hug. Masaki yelped in surprised, and Ichigo laughed in delight._

_ "Tatsuki!"_

_ "Ichigo! I challenge you to a match of fighting!"_

_ "You're on!" The two small children began rolling around on the path, almost bumping into people and trying to the other one down. Tatsuki's mother came to stand beside Masaki, laughing and looking on._

_ "What good friends they are." She commented._

_ "Mm. They are indeed. Your daughter is quite talented in the martial arts."_

_ "This is more like cat fighting. She is quite good, though. So is your son." The two talked while Ichigo and Tatsuki played, oblivious to the world around them, enveloped in their own bliss of play…_

"Ichigo?" The voice snapped Ichigo back to the present, out from his stupor. He did a double take—Rukia's face was right in front of his own, mere inches away. Her mauve eyes were wide and glistening, piercing into the depths of Ichigo's soul. He blinked and stayed where he was.

"Mm-hm. Sorry, Rukia." He smiled and shook his head, ridding himself of the memory. It was raining now, which was odd because there weren't many clouds in the sky. They stopped walking and stood in the middle of the desolate path, the moonlight passing through the thin rain clouds and filtering through the canopy of a tree. She looked up at him, not able to take him in fast enough. A ray of moonlight seeped through the foliage, lighting his hair and leaving his face in shadow, save for his eyes, which were shining their amber color. She tried to stop thinking those thoughts, knowing she couldn't feel this way about him. She was trapped by his gaze, though.

Ichigo was entranced by her. He didn't realize that he was leaning forward until his lips brushed hers in a sweet kiss. His eyes closed, seemingly heavy. Rukia's body was frozen by shock. Ichigo knew that now there was no going back in their relationship, but he didn't want to mask his feelings any longer. He kissed her harder, pulling her closer so that their bodies were touching. Slowly, ever so slowly, she kissed him back, her hands entwining themselves hesitantly in his hair. The rain started to pick up, pounding down. Though the two were under a tree rain still dripped down onto them. He wrapped his arms around her back, running a finger along her spine.

Rukia's mind was reeling. She couldn't deny that this was exactly what she wanted, but how could she accept it? She shouldn't! What would her brother say? What did it matter what he said? Wouldn't this ruin everything? Her brain was fogged with questions, none of them able to find answers. She did the only thing she decided she could do. She broke away from him quickly, stepping back away from him. "I—I'm sorry, Ichigo. I can't—" Tears choked her, and she ran, ran back, ran away from the park. She ran right passed the Vespa, down the street and out of sight.

Not able to understand what had happened, what he could have done wrong, Ichigo just stood there, dripping wet. He felt lost. Why had he even kissed her? It was bound to end up this way. But if that was so, then why did she kiss him back? He felt something hot trickle down his cheek and held a hand up to it, tracing it up to his eye. It was a tear.


	8. Chapter 8

_"Hey, Rukia! What's up?"_ Rangiku asked happily, unaware of Rukia's present condition. Rukia fought the tears spilling down her face and tried to answer through her sobs. Rangiku quickly realized that something was terribly wrong.

_"Rukia? What's wrong, Rukes?"_ Rukia answered, her voice so small she was barely heard.

"Please pick me up."

_"Why?"_  
"Please…just do it. I'm…off Main Street in a residential neighborhood."

_"Okay…it might take a while to find you, but I'll get there."_

"Thanks…" With that Rukia hung up, quickly stashing the phone in her purse to save it from further water damage. She stood on the sidewalk, looking at the road. The streetlight nearest her was out, shadows creeping upon her. Most of the lights of the houses around her were out, not helping with light. She wiped away the hot tears and cold raindrops from her face, leaning against a telephone pole and wondering why she had done what she had done.

Why?

Because she didn't like him? No, she was fairly sure she was falling in love with him. Then what? Was it that her brother wouldn't approve? No…he didn't even know. None of those were correct. It was because she just couldn't change that fast. She was scared. She'd never been in a position like this ever, and now everything was moving so fast she felt like she was spinning out of control. She had placed the brakes on their relationship, and deeply regretted doing so. What could she do? Now Ichigo probably thought that she hated him, and their relationship was as good as gone.

She continued to think these sort of morbid thoughts while waiting for Rangiku to find her, trying not to cry harder. When had Ichigo developed these sort of feelings for her? When had _she_ come to like him? Why had she pushed him away? Rukia continued to think and lost track of time, not registering the fact that the rain was coming down in thick sheets, coming down in record-breaking proportions. Her clothes were soaked, and she still didn't feel it. She had retreated to a corner of her mind, reserved for times like these.

"Rukia! Rukia!" It took yelling her name five more times before she responded. She blinked and squinted through the heavy rain, looking at her small convertible, top up. Rangiku had opened the passenger side and was waving her hand frantically. Rukia walked forward, realizing how cold she was. Her teeth began to chatter as she climbed into the convertible and turned on the heat, despite the fact that it was the middle of June.

"Rukia, what the _hell_ happened?" Rukia stared at the windshield, unwilling to answer. Rangiku sighed, giving up. She had known Rukia for practically her entire life, and in that time she had learned that Rukia would only speak if she wanted to speak. If she didn't, nothing could pry words out of her lips—not even being hung upside down, as Renji had found out with Rangiku. As the rain started to dry off of Rukia, her face remained wet with tears. Rangiku sighed and gripped the wheel tighter, looking through the dark before turning down the street and onto another road leading back to downtown.

"Rukia…just…know that you have a friend you can talk to. If you want to talk, I mean…" Rangiku said softly, glancing over at her petite friend. Rukia managed a half-hearted smile and looked back, nodding without much conviction. The rest of the ride was in silence.

Slamming the door, Ichigo quickly threw his keys on the table and walked down the hall, taking off his shirt as he went. It was soaked, as well as the rest of his person. He went over the events of that night while taking a steaming hot shower. Why had he kissed her? Something like this was bound to happen. He had acted on his feelings…after telling himself that he wouldn't. Didn't he have any self control?

He stopped beating himself up after scouring his mind for every last detail about the night and about why he had done what he had done, and tried to shut out thought and enjoy the shower. He ran his hands through his bright orange hair—although it was soaking wet, it was still rather spiky, which just showed how odd his hair was. Picking up his shampoo, he absentmindedly shook some into his hand and attacked his hair, venting his anger and disappointment physically since he couldn't any other way. After lathering his body in soap and rinsing it away, he turned the shower off and stared at the white tiled floor of his bathroom, slightly in denial. Only after long minutes of thought did he step out of the shower, wrap himself in a towel, and walk to his bedroom.

He wanted to talk to someone, anyone. But who would possibly want to listen to him while he ranted about how he had no romantic life? Ichigo snapped his fingers, however cliché, and picked up his iPhone. His closest friend from college, Grimmjow, would want to hear from him. They occasionally talked about how life sucked, and right now Ichigo really could just use an ear.

_"Gah—if this isn't one of my friends I am going to be very mad."_

"Yup, this is definitely the right number…" Ichigo said at Grimmjow's very rude answer to the phone.

_"Kurosaki. What's up, man? How ya' been?"_ Ichigo sighed and relaxed onto his bed…

_"Oh, man…that's harsh. But lemme give ya' some advice, here. The chick, Rukia or whoever she is, did kiss you back, right?" _Ichigo nodded, then remembered he was talking on the phone, and said yes. _"I'm no expert on women, but I'm guessing that she really does like ya'. You said she was never in a relationship before?"_

"Well, yes, but—"

_"Then she was probably scared, or confused or whatever. Give it time. Let her alone for awhile, and when she's ready she's gonna come right back to ya'."_ For such a punk, Grimmjow really could give legitimate, correct analyses on relationship situations.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it."

_"Don' think twice, homey. Now, it you'll excuse me I think I've left my woman waiting long enough, don't you?" _Ichigo chuckled.

"Is that why you were pissed when you answered the phone?"

_"Duh. We really were having a good time. We were—"_

"Grimmjow. Enough. Go back to whatever you were doing. I don't need to hear the details." Grimmjow laughed one last time, and the line went dead. Ichigo sighed and rested his head back on his pillow, hoping that what his lifelong friend had said would turn out to be true.

Ichigo looked at the clock, which read one in the morning. He had work tomorrow, so he decided he would sleep now and get some extra z's. He fell asleep thinking of those beautiful violet orbs, those tantalizing pink lips. He dreamed of Rukia.

As soon as Rukia was in the door, Renji and Kira were all over her. Kira was trying to find out if she was sick while Renji ranted. "What the hell happened, Rukia? If he hurt you, that sick bastard, I'll tear his guts out!" Rukia shook her head and sneezed.

"Stop. Just—" She sneezed again, and her teeth started to chatter. Rangiku swatted the boys away, taking Rukia to her room and setting out sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. Rukia sighed and sneezed again, wishing she had had the sense to find someplace where she wouldn't get soaked and catch a cold. After all, it was the middle of June.

"R-Rangiku? I'm going to go take a shower first. Then…then I'll explain everything." Rangiku pulled Rukia into a breathtaking hug, patting her head and nodding serenely.

"I knew you'd come around at some point, hun. Take your time." So Rukia showered slowly, trying to sort her thoughts and think of good ways to explain her emotions. The only thing she was clueless about was what to do next. After all, she had absolutely zip experience in the department of guys, and didn't know why she was thinking half of what she was thinking. She turned the water of and wrapped herself in a towel, still sneezing but feeling much better. Rangiku threw her clothes in, opening the door minutely, before closing it again and waiting in their room. She already had an inkling as to what had happened, but she would just wait and see what Rukia had to say.

Rukia plodded down the hall after making sure Renji wasn't in sight, walking into her bedroom and sitting down on her bed with fresh Chappy sheets laid out. She was dressed in black Under Armour sweatpants and a dark grey thermal shirt that had "Death God" printed on the front in crimson letters. Rangiku sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and hugging her before leaning against the wall and waiting for her to start.

_Where should I start? Where? It would be more simple to start from tonight…but that doesn't explain everything…I'd better start from the beginning._ Rukia took a deep breath. "Last Saturday we got called in as a replacement band at a nightclub called _Seireitei_…"

Rangiku listened intently, only nodded and never interrupting, which was very unlike her. Maybe she understood that this matter was more serious than others. Rukia explained everything, from the moment she laid eyes on Ichigo to the moment she realized she loved him to the moment she ran away from him to the present. Rangiku kept listening until she had told everything.

After Rukia stopped talking, Rangiku remained silent for a solid minute before saying anything. "Well, all I can say is that he loves you just as much as you love him. And by your thoughts and actions…well, please don't take offense, but I think that you're frightened by the emotions you're experiencing. But don't be, Rukia. Just embrace the change and go with things. See how they turn out." Rukia sighed and bit her lip hesitantly.

"Yeah…but what about Nii-sama? Wouldn't he be mad at me? Wouldn't—"

"Seriously, Kuchiki. You are _twenty_ years old. And what is he? Forty-something?"

"Hey! Nii-sama is not old, if that's what you are implying."

"Ha. That's not the point I was trying to make. You're a woman now, Rukia. You're not a little girl. You don't have to ask him permission for things. You don't have to be afraid of disappointing him. Anyway, being in love is normal. That couldn't possibly upset—"

"You'd be surprised." Rukia said darkly, looking down. Hair fell in her face, obscuring her eyes. "He was always very…_sensitive_ about the topic of love."

"That may be so, Rukia, but you've got to move on and be independent!"

"Sure, but haven't I already screwed up beyond repair?" Rangiku took Rukia's chin in her hand and turned her head so that she was looking at her. Rukia's eyes were wide, unshed tears wetting her thick, long lashes.

"_Nothing_ is beyond repair. There is not relationship that cannot be fixed. Not on my watch, anyhow. I want you to go to Kurosaki's apartment and apologize. Do it however you want—I'll leave it up to you—but when you get back here, you'd better tell me that you two kissed each other." Rukia laughed and wiggled free of Rangiku's grasp, putting her head in her hands and thinking.

"Do I have to do it now?" She asked quietly, peering at Rukia skeptically. Rangiku shook her head.

"Of course you don't, Rukia! You can go tomorrow, or the next day. Just don't delay it for too long or it may not work as well. You just have to show Ichigo that what you did before was just because you were surprised. You've got to show him that you really do have feelings for him." Rukia nodded and flopped down on her bed, face buried in her pillow.

"Thank you, Rangiku." Rukia said, her words partially muffled by the feather pillow. Rangiku patted Rukia's head again before moving to her own bed and lying down. _Maybe this will work, after all. Maybe I can correct my mistakes before it's too late. Don't lose hope, Ichigo._


	9. Chapter 9

Ichigo woke with a start, snapping up and looking around his room. His clock read 8:30—he hadn't slept much. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, Ichigo turned over and closed his eyes again. Though he was exhausted, he couldn't sleep. He turned a few more times, trying to find a comfortable position, before finally giving up on sleep and throwing the sheets off. Though it had been raining incredibly hard yesterday, today the sky was clear and the sun was bright. It was as if the world was taunting him.

He threw on old, ripped jeans and walked into the kitchen, feeling awful. Was it from all of the drinks he'd downed at the nightclub? Or was it from screwing up so badly with Rukia? Probably the latter, or possibly a mix of both. Thinking about this, Ichigo opened a cupboard and felt around until his hand closed around a cereal box. He pulled it down, leaving the cupboard open, and poured some of the contents into a bowl, choosing to leave the cereal dry. He didn't even look at what kind of cereal it was—it could have been wood shavings for all he knew because as he ate he didn't taste anything. He only felt the dry substance making its way down his throat.

The doorbell rang suddenly, making him jump and almost spill his cereal. He set the bowl down slowly and walked to the door, wondering who it could be at this early hour—well, relatively early for him. Ichigo opened the apartment door slowly, revealing a certain raven-haired woman.

"R—" Before he could finish the word, Rukia threw herself at Ichigo, hugging the breath right out of him. Ichigo was shocked—had something happened that he'd missed? The last time he'd seen her she was running away from him. Now she was hugging him like there was no tomorrow.

"I'm sorry, Ichi. I'm so, so sorry. I was scared. I didn't know what was happening. But it wasn't rejection. I love you too." Ichigo took in these words, wondering if he'd died and gone to heaven. After all, he'd just wanted for her to come through the door and say that she'd made a mistake and that she loved him back. And now it was really happening.

He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back tightly. "Thank you, Rukia." He said quietly, resting his head on top of hers, feeling a sense of ecstasy that made his spine tingle. After last night, she still didn't hate him? This was a miracle—or Ichigo thought it was. After holding each other for what seemed like forever, Rukia leaned her head up and kissed him, a gentle, sweet kiss. He kissed her back, tightening his grip on her.

Finally.

Finally, they got to kiss. Finally, their feelings were revealed to each other. Almost as soon as they met each other they were attracted. It just took them a little longer to get to the point where they could accept it. Now they were there. Ichigo inhaled and smelled vanilla—maybe Rukia's shampoo. They broke away from the kiss, still in each other's arms. Ichigo grinned and reached out, closing the front door which had been open the whole time.

"Mm…I think this was love at first sight." Ichigo said, tracing Rukia's cheekbone. She mock scowled.

"That was my line, Ichigo. But yes, I have to agree with you there."

"Enough talking." Ichigo said before silencing her response with another kiss. Her mouth was sweet, making him smile into their kiss. They were still standing in the middle of the room, so as they kissed he slowly backed toward the sofa, sitting down with Rukia and not breaking their kiss once. Ichigo's mind was hazy with bliss, while Rukia was fully aware of them but still equally happy. The two leaned into the fabric, Ichigo's hands massaging Rukia's shoulders. Rukia's hands were entwined in Ichigo's orange hair, giggling and wrapping her legs around his. She was new to this entirely—she'd never had a relationship at all, let alone one that she would let go this far.

Ichigo had had his various crushes and high school and almost a few girlfriends in college, but none of them had really sparked his interest enough. Rukia was a very different matter, though. She was in her own league of sexy. She was intoxicating in every sense of the word. Her body was small but beautifully proportioned. Her eyes were ones he could stare at forever. Her lips were ones he could kiss forever.

Both of the lovers couldn't believe that they were letting things go this far so soon, but both were overridden by relief that their feelings were mutual. That relief drove them farther than they realized until much later…

"Where's Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked as soon as she walked in the door of the nightclub. Orihime and Ishida were in deep conversation in one corner of the room. Chad was helping Yoruichi restock the bar's shelves with liquor while Urahara paced around the room, uncommonly quiet and brooding. He looked up as Tatsuki entered. "And…where's the band? Didn't they agree to play on the weekends or something?" Urahara scratched his stubble thoughtfully, adjusting his green and white striped fedora.

"Where indeed. I haven't a clue! This is worrisome because the nightclub will have to open soon. The sun has already almost set. I'm going to call the band first. Ichigo has a habit of making work in the nick of time." He pulled out a sleek black phone and entered a number, the keys clicking slightly.

"Rangiku-san? Hello! It's Urahara Kisuke. Yes. Well, I was just wondering where you were—you were supposed to play tonight at _Seireitei._ Yes? Not there? Where is she? _Ichigo's?_ Thank you. I'll contact them immediately, but could you make it here on the double, please? The nightclub is about to open. Yes. _Wakarimashita._" With that he hung up his phone, no longer looking worried. A rather goofy and lopsided grin graced his youthful face.

"This will be interesting." He dialed another number, his hands moving swiftly as he knew the number very well.

_"Hello?"_ Said a very rough voice, sounding as if the owner had just been awoken.

"Ichigo! It's Kisuke! Why haven't you shown up at work?"

_"Oh, SHIT!"_ Urahara heard on the other end. Then he heard the rustling of fabric and a female voice groaning. _"What?" _It asked drowsily. _"We're late for work!" _Ichigo told the woman, forgetting that Urahara could hear everything they said. _"Ah! When did we fall asleep? Shit, shit, _shit!_ I don't have a change of clothes! Oh, whatever. These will do."_ As if an afterthought, Ichigo once again addressed Urahara.

_"We'll be there in fifteen minutes."_ Then the line went dead and Urahara started guffawing, doubling over he was laughing so hard. The other five turned to him with questioning looks.

"He—he—he was—with—Rukia! And they f-fell—asleep! Y-you can—only—imagine what—what h-happened." He was barely understandable because of his laughter, but the others managed to drag a meaning out of the jumbled words and started laughing—even Chad chuckled. Soon the band arrived, Kira and Renji carrying their guitars, Rangiku going into the basement with Ishida to bring the drums up. The room turned into one of chaos, everyone trying to make up for the two missing persons.

Kira and Renji wore matching shirts, black with what appeared to be blood dripping down the front; matching jeans, grey with small rips down the sides; and of course black Converse high-tops. Rangiku was wearing a skintight black dress, plain but flattering. Rukia…well, no one but Ichigo knew what Rukia would be wearing.

Urahara drummed his fingers on a table, trying to pass the time. The club was five minutes late opening, and a line was starting to form at the front of the store. Finally, after what seemed like a very long time but was probably just ten minutes, Ichigo and Rukia burst through the band's room, coming in from the back door. As soon as they skidded to a stop, everyone began to laugh—everyone. Ichigo and Rukia were mortified, their faces brighter than Renji's hair.

"So, you..._fell asleep?_ I wonder why!" Kira said, sneering at their expressions and adjusting the guitar strap over his shoulder.

"It's not what you think!" Ichigo insisted, hands on hips, furious expression on face. Rukia grudgingly took her place on the stage, not saying anything. After everyone was finished teasing Ichigo, they got back to their work and opened the nightclub, letting the customers pore in like ants on a dead insect. Urahara greeted them, trying to keep the flow under control with Chad, who kept a keen eye out from the wall. The band started to play, earning cheers from the crowd. The staff went about as if nothing had every happened—after all, it wasn't like they could ignore their customers. In between songs Rukia and Ichigo would have conversations with their eyes, gesturing subtly. Ichigo never took his eyes off of Rukia, serving people but not looking. The bar was lined with VIPs tonight—all of them very demanding and very snobby. Yoruichi had gone back into her home, not wanting to crowd anyone—after all, it wasn't strictly her business. It was her husband's.

The night was relatively uneventful in relative terms. The customers were cheering constantly for the band, but that was normal. They were going to play here every weekend, and could only get more famous. Rukia decided toward the end of the night that they should sing a newer song, entitled "Gonna Find You", that they'd written even though they had barely practiced it. After all, she had written the lyrics all by herself, the entire time thinking about Ichigo. And so the song began, upbeat but with a calm tone. As usual, the song was a hit. There weren't too many people left at the nightclub—only the regulars—and most had had a wee bit too much alcohol.

Ichigo couldn't keep his eyes off of Rukia. Her eyes met his and she smiled, continuing the song with even more vigor. She sang beautifully, her voice ranging from alto to high soprano—a very uncommon talent. As the chorus came back in, Renji and Kira leaned toward their microphones and echoed her words, their voices low and quiet. As they finished the song, wild applause broke throughout the room, shouting and cheering scattered around.

As soon as the last of the people started to trickle out of _Seireitei,_ Renji dropped their guitars and ran up to Ichigo, both looking furious. Renji put one of his fists up and held it in front of Ichigo's face. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't punch your lights out right now?" Everyone else turned to face the three, Rukia staring in surprise and Rangiku standing up from her drum set, ready to intervene.

"W-what are you talking about, Renji?"

"Don't screw around with me, Kurosaki. _Rukia?_ What happened?" At this Ichigo understood what he was talking about. Chad, Orihime, Ishida, Rukia, Kira, Yoruichi, and Urahara were all watching from around the room with surprised looks on their faces. Rangiku and Tatsuki, though, started to walk toward the two men, ready to break up the fight.

"Nothing!" Ichigo insisted, taking a step back. Although he was a very accomplished fighter, he didn't want to get into a tussle with someone he was working with.

"If you hurt her—"

"Renji!" A voice from across the room said forcefully. Renji's head swiveled around, surprised to see that Rukia had spoken. She had her hands on her hips, feet spread apart a bit, and a scowl on her face.

"Everything is _fine._ I will _not_ have you hurting him. Anything that might have happened between us will be _kept_ between us, understood?" Renji lowered his fist that was still pointed at Ichigo's face, even though he was seething.

"Fine." Then he turned back to Ichigo and said quietly so that only he could hear, "But if anything—_anything—_happens to her, you're a dead man. I won't see my best friend getting hurt. Especially on your account." With that he stomped out of the nightclub, not sparing a second glance and not bothering to get his guitar. No one knew what to say.

It was four in the morning, and everything seemed quiet. The traffic wasn't loud from so high up, no air traffic disturbed the peace…everything seemed to be still. The apartment was dark, no lights or appliances left on. All of the doors were shut tightly. Behind one of them resided two people, though.

Rukia put her arms around Ichigo's bare torso, hugging him tightly. Ichigo put a hand on her head and played with her silky hair. "Ichigo, I'm so sorry about what happened today…I had no idea that Renji would act this way. Then again, he didn't know what happened and thought of…well…" Rukia didn't seem to be able to finish her sentence.

"Don't worry, Rukia. It wasn't your fault. I should've explained to him. I know that he's an overprotective friend, so…it's to be expected." Rukia nodded into his chest and remained silent. After the commotion at _Seireitei,_ she'd yelled at Renji even though he was already out the front door and left with Ichigo, not wanting to go home and have to deal with a huge fight that would surely drag Rangiku and Kira in. Now she realized that it all could've been avoided by simply explaining to him that they hadn't slept together, but it was too late for explanations.

So instead, Rukia fell asleep again in Ichigo's arms, in his bed, in his apartment.

"Damnit!" Renji yelled, kicking the wall and not particularly caring that his foot started to throb. Kira was trying to calm Renji down, but to no avail. Rangiku was waiting patiently for him to finish throwing a hissy fit, which he did after a while. As soon as he sat down in a chair, eyes closed and brows knit together, Rangiku grabbed a roll of tape and taped his mouth shut.

"Alright, Renji. Don't even think about taking that off. And don't stand up. Just sit there and listen. I know that you're angry because of what Rukia and Ichigo might've done, but I say _might have._ You don't know that they were actually screwing around. And even if they were, you shouldn't have gotten mad. I know you're Rukia's best friend and used to protect her when she was little, but she's _twenty._ Almost twenty-one, actually…maybe I should make plans—_anyway. _She's just as grown up as you are, and probably twice as mature. You have a girlfriend too, so don't go defending yourself. You can't get mad because Rukia's enjoying her life. That's all I have to say." With that Rangiku ripped the tape off of Renji's mouth, eliciting a groan from him.

She stalked down the hall, slamming her bedroom door. Rock music started to blast out of her docking system, making Renji hold his head in his hands. Kira looked at him and crossed his arms.

"She's right, you know…she's right." Renji narrowed his eyes at Kira but didn't start yelling or hitting him. Instead he got up, ripped the tape off of his mouth, and walked slowly to the spare room where they always practiced, seeking solace in something. For him that something was always music. Thanking himself for remembering to soundproof the walls when they had first moved in, he shut the door and enjoyed the silence for a moment before sitting down at Rangiku's drum stool and plucking a raggedy melody out on his guitar. He knew that he had overreacted with Ichigo, but he was…mad…

He was grown up, and so was Rukia. But he still remembered when they would play together as children, and how he would beat up anyone daring enough to try and mess with her. He was her protector as well as number one friend. After they had gone to college they had drifted apart. Although they were still close, she was seeing someone. It was a distraction for her. Renji sighed and ran his fingertips harshly across the guitar strings, earning an ear-wrenching sound from the loud amplifier.

Not only did he react too severely, but he didn't have any real evidence. It was true that Rukia had spent the _entire_ day at Ichigo's and that they had apparently _fallen asleep,_ but that still didn't give a definitive answer that they'd had sex. Renji grimaced and wished that Rukia would come back so he could apologize. But knowing her, it would take a bit longer. He would try to make it up to her—and Ichigo, for that matter—the next day at work. Deciding that, he closed his eyes and let his fingers play a foreign tune—completely improvised from his emotions.

Kira, who was still in the kitchen, tried to block out the sound of Rangiku's rock music. Unfortunately that docking system had very good sound…so even on a relatively low setting whatever song was being played would echo through the entire house. He seemed to be a spectator to a terrifying battle that was unfolding between his comrades. And it was such a bad time to fight. The band was getting insanely popular—almost wherever they went, now, they were recognized. They were becoming a success, and if they fought it could possibly break the band up, which would be too bad—they had a shot at making it big time. Kira leaned against the kitchen counter and tilted his head up, calming himself. _No, no…Renji and Rukia…and Rangiku, now…will get over it. We won't come undone just because of this little quibble._ Kira sighed and gave up being optimistic. The fight would either unravel them or make them closer.

Ichigo lay awake, one arm around Rukia, trying to figure out how they got here. Everything had happened so fast. The details were hazy from the alcohol that night and the aftereffects, but he remembered kissing her, and her running away. Then he had gone home, discouraged and pissed at himself. The next day, he had just woken up when Rukia had showed up with his door, apologizing for being afraid. They'd kissed. A lot. They'd gotten a bit carried away, and eventually just fell asleep, not actually realizing it.

Then he had been woken up by a phone call from Urahara, saying he would be late for work. Since Urahara had heard Rukia, it was an understandable assumption to make that they'd been together. All evidence pointed toward it. The only thing was that they hadn't. They hadn't slept together. Sure, they'd done their fair share of kissing, but nothing more.

_I should just explain to Renji tomorrow at work. As long as he doesn't try to beat me up…_Ichigo grimaced and unconsciously tightened his grip around Rukia's waist, causing her to stir. He looked over at her and saw her eyes fluttering open. "Ichigo?" She murmured, his face the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. Ichigo smiled sadly.

"Sorry, Rukia. Didn't mean to wake you up." She nodded and stretched her arms above her head, brushing Ichigo's face in the process.

"No, it's fine." She yawned and wriggled out of Ichigo's grasp, sitting up with her elbows propped up on the pillow. The sun had just come up, which was the equivalent of the middle of the night to the two practically nocturnal people. The curtains were closed, though, ensuring that only a few rays of sun forced their ways in to Ichigo's bedroom. Ichigo caught her hand as it made its way past his face, bringing it to his mouth and kissing it gently. Rukia giggled pulled her hand away, blushing.

Instead of not letting go, Ichigo let her hand fall away and in exchange brought her lips to his, a kiss filled with passion. Rukia smiled into the kiss and pulled herself toward Ichigo, hands going around his waist. Ichigo closed the gap between their bodies, entwining their fingers above their heads. Though they were both very tired—mentally and physically—they were too caught up to worry about what the aftereffects of would be. "I'm not feeling too tired now." Ichigo whispered, blowing air into her ear and making her shiver. Rukia laughed and turned her head so that she could kiss Ichigo again. The two were caught up in lust, using their instincts instead of their brains. Only when Ichigo began to take off Rukia's shirt did something spark in her mind.

"Wait, Ichigo. Maybe this is a little too soon." Ichigo smiled and nodded, kissing her again but with significantly less lust.

"Yes, I guess so. Sorry, Rukia. Just got a bit carried away." Rukia giggled and kissed Ichigo back, her soft, sweet lips colliding with his, their tongue's dancing together. They remained that way for a significant part of the night, flirting with the line of involved and _more_ involved.


	10. Chapter 10

Yoruichi looked at her husband's hat, drumming her fingers against the table. How long would it be before he realized that his precious fedora had gone missing? Yoruichi grinned and twirled the hat, tossing it in the air and catching it before it fell to the floor. She took a sip of her juice and tonic water, frowning at the unfamiliar taste that touched her tongue. Seeing as she was pregnant, she had stopped drinking alcohol, but dearly missed it._ It's all Kisuke's fault._ She thought with mixed feelings. It wasn't that she minded having a kid, but it was entirely an "accident". After doing some investigation, Yoruichi had discovered that Urahara had switched her Pills with Tic-Tacs.

Urahara really had gotten it for doing what he did, but Yoruichi let him off the hook because, truth be told, she was excited to have a kid. Though she was fairly young—twenty-nine—she'd always wanted kids, and even though she hadn't planned on it, she was happy enough to go through with it now.

She looked down at her belly, now significantly bigger than its normal state. She touched it gently, smiling. A little nudge greeted her hand, making her leap up and yelp before she smiled and laughed at her silliness and sat back down. Unfortunately, though, the yelp had caused Urahara to wake up one floor above, thinking something was happening. The first thing that he noticed was that his dear green-and-white striped hat had gone missing. His eyes narrowed—whenever his hat had gone missing, either Ichigo or Yoruichi were always behind it.

Groaning and stretching, he padded to the bedroom door in his bare feet and plodded down the stairs, trying to stay awake. "Where's my hat, Yoruichi…" Urahara mumbled as he reached the kitchen, where Yoruichi would undoubtedly be. And indeed she was there. She looked up, grinning—the hat was on her head.

"Hey, Kisuke. Nice hair." She said, snickering as she referred to Urahara's rather unruly blonde hair, obstructing a full view of anything. He muttered something under his breath and approached his wife.

"Come on, Yoruichi…give the hat back. I can't wrestle you so I just need to ask." Yoruichi looked at him incredulously.

"Are you serious, Kisuke? You seriously think that asking me will make me give that hat back. Well, you're right. It will. But only for now. As soon as the baby's born, I will royally kick your sorry ass, man. And then steal the hat. Now just isn't the right time." She tossed the hat at his head, watching as it landed sloppily, covering his face instead of his hair. Urahara adjusted the hat, grinned cockily.

"Oh, I'm too good." Yoruichi raised an eyebrow but said nothing, choosing to finish off her juice and tonic, still wishing that she could drink gin. Urahara yawned and looked at the small but bright clock on the coffeemaker, noticing that it was almost nine in the morning—basically very late for their schedule. Urahara sighed and thought back to Renji and Ichigo's spat.

"You know, I never thought that we would actually get such an amazing opportunity—I mean, we are the ones who made the band famous. I'm glad, too. They have some kick-ass music going, and that Rukia's got one hell of a voice. I hope that they don't self-destruct because of that stupid argument that Ichigo and Renji had…I'm guessing that it's just a whole big misunderstanding." Yoruichi nodded, looking at her husband, who was deep in thought. She could tell that although the crew and the band were all over twenty, they were still kids—completely inept in the department of romance and somewhat innocent, emphasis on the _somewhat._ She sighed and closed her eyes. Sometimes life could be incredibly complicated, confusing, and just downright annoying.

Renji's eye twitched excessively, not seeming to stop. Tatsuki raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms and looking passed him, into the apartment. Rangiku and Kira were behind him, laughing so hard that they were doubled over crying. "Uh, Renji? You gonna let me in or what?" Renji didn't move, and that eye kept on twitching.

Now Tatsuki was getting annoyed. The reaction was absolutely absurd. Her palm cracked across Renji's face, three red marks immediately appearing across his left cheek. Renji jerked back, snapped out of his reverie.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked indignantly, holding his cheek tenderly. Tatsuki grinned at her success.

"Honestly, Abarai. You should know. I came to say hi and see if you wanted to hang at my place until work, and when I open the door all you can do is _stare?_ Pu-lease." Renji's tattooed eyebrows raised a significant height before furrowing, his eyes narrowing.

"It's not _my_ fault, Arisawa. You're the one who's wearing…what _are_ you wearing, anyway? I mean, it's—it's—you're barely wearing _anything!" _It was more or less true—Tatsuki was clad in what were called "booty" shorts and a rather interesting shirt, which was strapless and hung off her neck, practically hanging off of her body save for a loose string tied around her back just below her shoulder blades. The top was a shimmering gold color, glinting in the hall's dim lighting. Thigh-high boots graces her well toned legs, jet-black leather. The heels were at least five inches. The outfit was extremely uncharacteristic to her usually tomboy-ish personality.

"Ha! You are _so_ inadaptable, Renji! I felt like wearing something girly, so here I am. Remember a few nights ago you were begging me to wear girly clothes? You fail…" Renji's face dawned with realization, his bright brown eyes lighting up with realization.

"Oh, _that._ Yeah, well…" he scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously, "I didn't think that you would actually listen to me! I was joking—well, I did want to see you like this, but I didn't actually think that you would do it." Kira and Rangiku, all but forgotten, were on the floor, red as Renji's hair. The conversation was an exceedingly rare one, which made it all the better.

Tatsuki grabbed Renji's arm and practically dragged him out of the apartment, grinning as he struggled to keep up and not fall over, which would not stop Tatsuki from walking, him in tow. He righted himself huffily once they had reached the elevator, scowling at her before breaking into a smile, unable to hide his amusement with her behavior. This aspect, the one that made her not exactly bossy but confident to take the lead was one that he thoroughly enjoyed. The two talked on the way down from the forty-ninth floor, jesting and jibing, laughing as they always did. The previous night's incident was all but forgotten.

As they reached the lobby and almost ran out, the concierge waved to them, saying, "Have a nice day, Abarai-sama!" Renji didn't manage to get any words out of his mouth before he found himself out the door and into the cold mid-morning. Though he hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep, the brisk air and chilling wind awaked his senses, making his eyes widen about from their previous half-lidded, unobservant state. Renji looked around for her car, not sure which one it was. Tatsuki tapped her foot impatiently for a moment before pointing to a very hardcore, very "legit" motorcycle parked illegally against the curb, right in front of the apartment building's doors. _Why is it that all of our friends feel the need to park illegally where everyone can see their expensive vehicles?_ Renji thought with dismay, sighing inwardly. Tatsuki threw her leg over the side, motioning for Renji to do the same. He raised an eyebrow, noticing that there were no helmets to be had or worn—he just as quickly shook it off, though. This was Tatsuki he was talking about.  
"Eh, Tatsuki! You really expect me to let you drive? I'll be the one driving this fine motorcycle." Renji had had a passion for motorcycles and sports cars since he was a small child, and that fact had not changed over the past years. Tatsuki was aware of this fact and was aware that she wouldn't be able to get Renji _anywhere_ until she agreed. Grudgingly, she scooted back to the back of the motorcycle's seat—it was originally made for one person—and motioned her hand to the front as if to say, "all yours". Renji grinned lopsidedly and hopped on, revving the engine and bringing the vehicle from zero to fifty in under two seconds, laying a patch of rubber and peeling away, weaving through the heavy commuters traffic. Renji, Kira, Ichigo, and even Urahara had dangerous driving habits. It seemed that only Ishida and Chad had any shred of respect to abide by the laws.  
As the two rode toward Tatsuki's apartment—which wasn't all too far away, but was a long time to walk—Renji relished the feeling of Tatsuki's arms around his waist and her legs pressed against his. _Huh. I never thought of it before, but maybe this is why I like riding motorcycles so much…especially when Tatsuki's with me…_Renji laughed quietly at this, which Tatsuki clearly heard.  
` "And what, pray tell, are you thinking of now, Renji?" Renji quickly stopped laughing and blushed at the thought which he had thought was so funny.  
"Uh…not much…just, um…enjoying the moment, you know." Tatsuki scoffed at this but said nothing. She knew what he was thinking, but didn't mind. After all, he was a guy. They were all like that to some extent.

"Oh, wow…" Tatsuki murmured, breathing heavily. As soon as the two had gotten to Tatsuki's apartment they had gotten right down to business. It had started as just kissing in the living room as soon as the door had closed, but eventually they took it to the bedroom, where they got more serious. Renji let out a breath and rolled over on the crinkled sheets, not saying anything.  
That is, until he looked at the clock. "Shit!" He yelped, bolting upright and pulling his shirt over his head. Tatsuki frowned until she saw the clock, too. The club opened in fifteen minutes, and they were twenty minutes away—with Renji's crazy driving. Yelling and tossing clothes around frantically, the two made it out the apartment's front doors in three minutes flat.  
Aside from three near-death experiences and Tatsuki yelling at Renji the whole way, the ride to _Seireitei_ was rather uneventful. The rest of the band was there, and in an alright mood—Ichigo and Rukia still wouldn't talk to anyone but Urahara, but the rest of the group was in high spirits. Renji sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, dreading about having to own up to Ichigo that he had been wrong to confront him.  
Renji slunk over to where Ichigo was—at the bar, polishing the already spotless glass top. "Listen, Ichigo—" Renji began, but was silenced by Ichigo's hand, which he held up as he ignored Renji.  
"Either you came here to apologize or criticize me further. If you've come to apologize, apology accepted. If you've come to argue, screw off." Renji smirked at Ichigo's frankness. He had that type of attitude that could get him into real trouble but made it amusing.  
"Whatever ya' say, Ichigo." Renji said, smiling genuinely at being let off the hook. The rest of the night was a blur—alternate rock music, rich customers, kisses stolen when no one was looking, and drinks all around. The mood in the nightclub was lively and uplifting. Somewhere around one, Urahara slyly slipped through the doorway between his home and the nightclub, letting the other staff hold down the fort. They did so very successfully.  
As the nightclub wound things down, Rukia and the band stopped playing. Customers started to leave, some staying to get autographs from her or her band mates. Orihime and Tatsuki stashed the money they'd received in the cash register on the bar and chatted with Ichigo. Ishida and Chad, who had had a monotonous night, were in some deep conversation by the door, every once in a while thanking the customers who left. Renji, Kira, Rukia, and Rangiku were putting the guitars away and changing into more relaxed, casual clothes than the crazy gold ensembles Rangiku had forced on them for the show. The rest of the night was relaxed, the friends lingering in the otherwise empty nightclub for almost an hour, talking with each other easily.

"ICHIGOOO!" Isshin yelled madly, tackling his son into a bear hug. Ichigo winced as his black cap went flying somewhere behind him, and he quickly socked his father in the face, pulling away.  
"Damnit, Dad! Would you stop it already? You've been doing this to me for twenty-two years now!" Isshin grinned rather maniacally but backed away. Masaki came forward and hugged her son tenderly and lovingly.  
"Oh, Ichigo. I'm so proud of you. You'll be so successful; I know it!" Ichigo, blushing madly, stumbled out a response of some kind, embarrassed highly. Yuzu and Karin were right behind Masaki, though—Karin punched Ichigo's arm none too lightly and also practically tackled him, while Yuzu just settled for hugging him, standing on tiptoe. Ichigo laughed at his little sisters; while being annoying sometimes, they were good kids for the most part.  
As soon as his family gave him some space and found a table in the crowded courtyard set up for the graduation reception, Rukia appeared out of the crowd. At first, only Ichigo saw her. He quickly stood up and ran to her, hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek. He could practically hear Isshin having a happy attack behind him.  
"Congrats, Ichigo." Rukia said, pulling away and grinning. Ichigo looked away and rubbed the back of his head, smiling awkwardly.  
"I feel like such an idiot—I'm two years older than you, and yet I'm graduating three years _after _you." Rukia waved the comment away with her hand.  
"Oh, please. Come on Ichigo, you know that not everyone can be a genius like I am." Ichigo attempted to mask his smirk behind a black sleeve.  
"A genius, and so modest, too. Honestly, Rukia, it would do you good to be more reserved with the whole you being a complete genius thing." The two just looked at each other and laughed. The conversation was cut off quickly when the other four rushed up to the two.  
"ICHIGO! Why didn't you tell me about this?!" Isshin said, looking beside himself. Karin was glaring at him, Yuzu was smiling at Rukia, and Masaki was just shaking her head and laughing at him. She walked to where Ichigo and Rukia stood, smiling blindingly at Rukia.  
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kurosaki Masaki, Ichigo's mother." Rukia beamed and shook her hand in a friendly manner, remembering what Ichigo had said about her over their first dinner, which seemed like forever ago, but noting that she looked perfectly healthy to the observer.  
"Kuchiki Rukia. It's wonderful to meet you, Kurosaki-san. Ichigo has said so much about you, and I've been looking forward to meeting your family finally." Masaki laughed and shook her head.  
"Please, call me Masaki. I hate formalities."  
"Alright. And please call me Rukia. I'm in the same boat." Ichigo was looking from one to another as if watching a tennis match, surprised at how easily the two were already seeming to get along. Then he turned to his father.  
"Dad, you'd better not go making any pervy comments to her."  
"Oh, you sound so protective!" Isshin said, happiness practically oozing from him. Karin stomped on his foot and turned to Rukia.  
"I'm Karin. Nice to meet ya', Rukia." Ichigo groaned at Karin's hopeless informality, but was saved by Rukia's response.  
"It's wonderful to meet you, too, Karin! Ichigo's also talked about you a lot. I'm glad to meet you. And you must be Yuzu." She said, turning to the shorter girl. She skipped introductions and hugged the breath out of Rukia, smiling widely.  
"I'm Yuzu, alright! It's great to meet you! You must be wonderful since Onii-chan gets along with you so well!" Rukia laughed and hugged Yuzu back. Ichigo, embarrassed by the whole scene, put his hand on his forehead to cover his eyes. He could tell that Rukia was going to get along fine with the family, and wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. By that time Isshin had gotten up and was greeting Rukia, laughing heartily and crushing her hand in his.  
"At last, Masaki! We have met our third daughter!" Rukia raised an eyebrow and looked at Ichigo, as if to say—_explain._ Masaki rolled her eyes and looked away, but was trying not to smile. Ichigo shook his head in denial and pulled Rukia away from the four.

"I'm sorry, Rukia, but if you don't like them you should break up with me now, because they will infect your mind with their insanity. My father is a pervert, Karin is rude and violent, Yuzu is clingy and helpless, and Mom is…well, I guess there's nothing to say for her. But still, if you can't put up with this, it's a good idea to—" Rukia brought her finger to Ichigo's lips, silencing him.

"Please, Ichigo. I've dealt with worse. Anyway, you shouldn't say such things about your family. Your father is excited and family-oriented, Karin is confident and informal, Yuzu is sweet and kind, and your mother is wonderful, I'm sure. There's nothing bad about your family. I can already tell that they're nice people. Energetic, perhaps, but nice." Ichigo smiled and took Rukia's hand in his.

"Alright, Rukia. Thanks. In that case I have to let you fend for yourself for five minutes while I go change into normal clothes." Rukia laughed brightly and nodded, watching Ichigo's orange hair until it disappeared through a door of the university building. As soon as he was gone, the Kurosaki family—mostly Isshin—started to interrogate Rukia, from where she was born to what college she was in to how long she and Ichigo had been together.

"Rukia, how did you and Ichigo meet?" Yuzu asked politely, innocence and happiness radiating from her features. Rukia put her thumb to her mouth, chewing it absentmindedly before starting to explain.

"Well, I am the singer in a band called The Time—"

"OH MY GOSH! I _love_ you guys! I knew I'd seen you somewhere before! I've been to one of your concerts!" Karin yelled, jumping into the air enthusiastically. Rukia blushed and looked around, hoping that no one had heard

"Thanks! Glad to know we have some fans…well, anyway, we were called in to play at _Seireitei,_ and Ichigo was working there. Hence, we met. Our…um…_relationship…_went pretty fast. I mean, it hasn't been long at all since we met each other, but we seem to just get along very well." Isshin was crying fake tears of joy, clutching Masaki's hand and babbling about having grandchildren soon. Embarrassed, Rukia cleared her throat and looked the way Ichigo had run, wondering if he had come back yet.

When she looked back at the family, all four of them were trying (and obviously not succeeding) at holding in their laughter about _something._ Rukia raised her eyebrows at them. "What are you all laughing at?" Karin slapped her knee and tried to catch her breath. The sun was suddenly blocked by a figure behind her, significantly taller and with spiked hair based on the shadow.

Rukia jumped up in surprise, squealing and whipping around. Ichigo laughed at her reaction and was rewarded with a punch to the stomach, which knocked the breath out of him. "Ichigo!" She yelled, trying to be mad but unable to keep a smile off her face.

Once he had managed to take normal breaths again, Ichigo smiled apologetically and wrapped his hand around her waist, turning to his family. "Alright; now that this is finally over, let's get something to eat, 'kay?" Everyone nodded, Karin already looking bored, Yuzu and Masaki happy, and Isshin hopping up and down in anticipation. Leaving his face blank, Ichigo mentally slapped himself.


	11. Chapter 11

After a long adventure, which included breakfast at a local diner, two near death experiences with traffic in the family's turquoise minivan, a walk (which turned into a race) in a local park near the family's house, shopping downtown (in which the women dragged the men along), and lastly dinner at the house, the group was utterly exhausted.

Yuzu and Karin were sitting on the floor of the living room, watching a movie like they had eight years ago. Isshin, who would spontaneously jump up and sit back down, was currently reclined next to Masaki on the couch. Ichigo was on the love seat, Rukia lying down next to him with her head resting on one arm and her legs across Ichigo's lap resting on the other arm. It was a very pleasant scene to anyone who might have looked.

"How did you get into singing, Rukia?" Masaki asked pleasantly, always the most polite, interested person in the family. _She always takes interest in others…another reason why she's the best mom in the world._ Ichigo thought happily. Rukia sat up slightly, elbows propping her up from her reclined position. She thought for a moment, biting her lip, before answering the question.

"Well…I'd always liked singing when I was young, and when I was in middle school I found that composing songs really helped me get away from the world, which could be stressful at times. Anyway, I started singing more and in high school found out that I could go a long way, so when I went to Julliard for college, I got more serious. After I graduated, I decided that music was what I wanted to do, so I formed a band with some of my high school friends. The rest is history." Ichigo grinned at the cliché and absentmindedly stroked her leg. Not all that aware of what he was doing, he looked down at Rukia with surprise on his face as she giggled.

"Ichigo! S-stop, that t-tickles!" Ichigo, suddenly aware of his actions, blushed and smiled sheepishly, not looking all too sorry. Isshin was squealing like a little girl presented with ice cream at the display, but quickly stopped when Masaki gave him a not-so-subtle pinch. Karin and Yuzu, who had turned temporarily from their movie, were laughing at the awkwardness radiating from all four people—or three, since Isshin was practically shameless. Masaki, being the first one to recover, kept on asking Rukia questions, always interested and polite. The night was spent like this: Isshin trying to say things but being stopped by Ichigo, Rukia answering Masaki's questions, and Karin and Yuzu occasionally saying something.

"You're family is so nice, Ichigo." Rukia said, patting his arm sleepily and rolling over in his bed. Ichigo grunted a response and readjusted himself so that his back was touching Rukia's. Rukia bumped him a bit, wanting a spoken response. Something between a groan and a chuckle came from Ichigo's mouth, but he opened his eyes.

"Yeah, they're good. Dad's a goof, but otherwise my family's pretty chill." Rukia, laughing, reached behind her and laced her fingers between Ichigo's, sighing as his skin met hers.

"Hey, Ichigo?"

"Yeah?" He heard a smile—and mischief—in her words, and turned his head to see her expression. Instead, he was met directly with her lips. Surprised, he didn't respond for a few seconds, but soon recovered from his initial shock and kissed her, too. Soon, though, he broke away.

"Rukia, not here. I can guarantee that my dad will be snooping around and will hear us, see us, _something._ And believe me when I say that that would not be good." Rukia's eyes widened at the thought of Ichigo's father peeking on them and quickly pulled away, suddenly uncomfortable with their proximity.

For the rest of the night they talked, reminiscing about their pasts and laughing quietly at the other's childhood stories. Just outside the door, Isshin turned to Masaki, who was behind him. "You shouldn't be listening to them." Masaki whispered once they were safely down the hall. Isshin smiled but didn't make a silly comment in response. What he had seen had made him happy. They both returned to their bedroom, Isshin flipping the lights on.

"Look at them, Masaki! I'm guessing that there'll be a wedding soon enough." Masaki smiled back sadly and sat on the bed, thinking.

"It would be nice to see Ichigo married before I go." She said quietly. Isshin's shoulders drooped as he was reminded of his wife's imminent and most likely unavoidable death.

"There must be something I can do…" He murmured, stroking her back as he thought. "I'm a doctor! I can't perform the surgery for you, but I must be able to—"

"Stop, Isshin." Masaki interrupted, tired of hearing Isshin blame himself. "There's nothing you can do. You know that I will get the operation in about a month, and we'll see what happens from there. And even if I die, I've had a very happy life with you and the children." Isshin hugged her tightly, saddened further by her optimistic words that showed her inner strength despite the grim reality of the situation.

_Please let that strength heal you._

"ICHIGOOO!" A flying mass of Isshin hurtled toward Ichigo, who was looking at the breathtaking sunrise at the window. Ichigo, used to this type of entrance, calmly stepped aside and watched as Isshin cracked the glass with his head. Whimpering, he pulled away and put his hands to where blood had started to slowly trickle down the left side of his face.

"What was that for, son? Why would you hurt your old man?" He asked, amusement thinly masked by his veil of fake pain and bemusement. Ichigo, rolling his eyes, answered with sarcasm almost tangibly dripping from his words.

"Yeah, I really meant to hurt you, Dad. But _no,_ you didn't mean to hurt me at all! That would be fucking _absurd._" Rukia, who had watched the whole thing silently from the bed, couldn't help but stare at the casual violence the father and son exercised with each other

"Uh…good morning, Mister Kurosaki." She said politely, wondering if he had simply forgotten that she was there. Isshin turned delightedly to Rukia, his slightly bloodied face lighting up with sheer delight.

"Rukia! It's such a pleasure to see you are well! Please tell Ichigo that—" Ichigo's hand covered Isshin's mouth none too gently, and he was silenced. Rukia cleared her throat and inconspicuously pulled the sheet over her, highly uncomfortable with the fact that she was only wearing a practically see-through black tank top and no bra.

"Hey, Ichigo? I'm going to take a shower, 'kay?" Without waiting for an answer Rukia dashed from the room and closed the bathroom door behind her, not paying heed to the fact that she had not planned on staying the night and hence had no change of clothes.

Ichigo, meanwhile, just raised an eyebrow at his father and threw on a shirt, swearing under his breath. "Dad, could you please try not to freak Rukia out? She's _normal._ She doesn't get how your freakish mind works. Save it for later." Isshin giggled like a little girl but reluctantly agreed with some cajoling, still fond of Rukia.

After showers, the family enjoyed an enormous breakfast courtesy of Masaki and Yuzu, who seemed all too happy to cook.

"So, what do you think we should do today? Any ideas?" Masaki asked as they were eating. Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other, making a silent agreement.

"Actually, Mom, Rukia's going back to the city today." Masaki's face fell minutely before setting into an accepting smile. She brushed a lock of golden hair from her warm eyes and nodded.

"Oh, I see. I was hoping that you two could stay a bit longer before leaving, but you two probably have things to do. Rukia, how is your band doing? I know that you're group is fairly new, but I must say that you four are going to be famous." Pink tinted Rukia's cheeks and she looked down, hiding behind her bangs.

"Thank you, Masaki. We're doing pretty well. As I mentioned before, we've landed some gigs—er, I mean concerts—around the city and a few in Tokyo, so our faces are getting to be known. Honestly, though, we play because we love music and know that other people love music. Fame and money are byproducts." A collective laugh.

"That's wonderful. I'd love to see you perform soon. Are you singing any time soon?" Rukia thought for a moment, her violet eyes glazing over for a split second before refocusing.

"I think we have a concert on Friday night…" Masaki beamed, delight radiating from her warm features. Rukia quickly checked the clock on the kitchen wall and started slightly.

"Shoot. I really should be going. I'm so sorry to have to run like this, but I promised my band that we would get in some practice for a few new songs of ours today." And so she was off. A commotion was made as Rukia got her few things together and said her goodbyes, hugging Yuzu and Masaki, shaking hands with Isshin and Karin, and kissing Ichigo.

Ichigo insisted that he accompany her back to the bus station, but Rukia wouldn't hear of it. She said her last goodbyes, whispered something in Ichigo's ear, and then was out the door. Ichigo was left with his family. As soon as the door shut behind Rukia, all four were yelling things at once.

"Ichigo, Rukia's so nice!"

"What a wonderful girl she is."

"Our third daughter!"

"She's actually not that bad." All of these things, being said at once, weren't quite discernable and left Ichigo with a comical expression on his face as if he'd had to screw up his features to be able to hear everything.

"Jeez. You guys are way too energetic. Nice ta' know that you like her, though. It's not like the relationship is serious or anything—so _don't_ get your hopes up, Dad. Wow. I can't believe that school's over." Masaki beamed at him proudly and patted his back.

"I'm so proud of you, Ichigo. You can become successful at whatever you choose to do. For now, I think that a low-key day would befit us well after yesterday's little venture."

"Little? Please," Karin muttered. "That was the biggest shopping trip I've been on in my life. It was complete torture." Ichigo nodded and earned a slap on the head from Yuzu.

"It was not! We were trying to get to know Rukia and figure out what she was like, so it wasn't even about the shopping."

"Well, it sure seemed like that. You brought home seven huge, heaping bags of new clothes. Don't make excuses about new clothes for college, either. You _don't_ need that much." Yuzu pouted and stomped her foot on the ground like she would when she was little.

"You wouldn't even understand! You have no taste in fashion!" As the two bickered, the others drifted off, Masaki to the kitchen, Isshin to the living room, and Ichigo to his bedroom. A thought hit Ichigo as he sat down on his bed. _I haven't checked my Facebook account for days…_he grabbed his laptop and sat up, opening the lid to log in.

His Facebook wall had dozens of posts on it, but as he scrolled down, one in particular caught his attention. It was a post from…_Kurosaki Isshin._ There was a picture of Rukia and Ichigo in the park they had visited yesterday, holding hands and walking away from the camera. The caption read: "LOOK AT THE LOVEBIRDS! THAT'S MY THIRD DAUGHTER!" To this post there were thirty-seven comments, all praising the relationship, some in rather inappropriate ways. Ichigo's eyes snapped open so much that it actually hurt, and he was off the bed and out the door in less than two seconds.

"DAD! What the hell did you do?" Isshin looked up from his puzzle book, a devilish grin spreading across his face. "You have a Facebook, Dad?" All of it was news to Ichigo. His father was not the best nor the brightest in the technological department, so the fact that he had figured out how to do what he had done surprised him.

"I don't know what you could _possibly _be talking about," Isshin said with a girlish giggle. Ichigo stomped over to where his father was sitting and whacked him over the head, satisfied by Isshin's pitiful wail.

"Damnit, Dad! That's my fucking reputation on there! Could ya' _not_ go and just announce to the world that I'm dating Rukia?" Isshin looked at his son with wide, pleading eyes, fake tearing brimming on his lashes.

"Please, son, forgive me. I never knew that you were so sensitive to the subject. It's fine—I know it's because your having sex, but if you could possibly find it in your heart to forgive your old man, I—"

"Shut the fuck up, Goat Face! W-we're not having sex!" Ichigo stuttered out angrily. Masaki walked over, a wooden stirring spoon held in her hand.

"Honestly, you two. Stop the swearing and arguing," She said matter-of-factly. The spoon cracked down on both of their heads and then she was back in the kitchen, working diligently and humming jubilantly as if nothing had ever happened. Ichigo and Isshin looked at each other and shared a grin. This was one of the rare occasions that they could be temporarily put at peace; Masaki was always involved.

The door opened silently and Rukia entered, expecting everyone to be asleep. As soon as one foot was through the door, however, she was grabbed into a strangle-hug by none other than Rangiku.

"Rukia! You're back!" Rukia tapped Rangiku's arm and pointed to her mouth. After a minute or two, Rangiku caught on and let Rukia go. She gasped for air and looked at Rangiku.

"Seriously? I was gone for one day and you have to give me the strangle-hug?" Renji and Kira both emerged from their room, rubbing their eyes and adjusting their skewed clothes. Kira smiled blearily and gave a wobbly wave.

"Hey, Rukia. Where were you?" Rukia motioned vaguely to the door, mumbling something incoherent.

"Speak up, Rukia," Renji said impatiently. Rukia huffed and practically yelled her answer.

"I was at Ichigo's house for the day!" Renji laughed and set a hand on his hip.

"Figures. You practically live at his apartment."

"Not his apartment, numbnuts. I was at his parents' house after his graduation ceremony. Jeez." She shook her head and headed to her and Rangiku's room to change. The others went to the practice room to turn the amps on and warm up on their instruments. Rukia, who had thrown on old shorts and a tank top, walked into the room and fiddled with the microphone for some time before nodding to the others. Their newest songs were set, and they knew what to play. With that nod, she launched into song, letting the music carry her away to her own world that was her heaven.

The doorbell rang, making her voice stumble. Everyone's playing came to a halt and Rukia looked around confusedly, wondering who it was. Usually visitors were called up to the person they were visiting to make sure that they were expected, but there was the occasional exception—this seemed to be one of them. The four friends walked down the hall, Rukia in the lead.

Taking a deep breath and straightening her hair, she took hold of the doorknob and threw the door open. A crisp, black suit greeted Rukia's eyes. She looked up into a face that was horribly, undeniably familiar. That black, silky hair. Those grey eyes.

"_Nii-sama?_"


	12. Chapter 12

It wasn't usual to see Kira, Rangiku, or Renji so serious. They sat in a line on the plush couch, intimidated, hands in laps and eyes shifting anywhere but at Kuchiki Byakuya. Rukia sat in an armchair beside the couch, fingering a half empty glass of water and glancing uncertainly at her older brother-in-law. He looked coldly over the four young adults. The atmosphere was tense and awkward. Finally Rukia could take it no longer and broke the silence.

"Nii-sama…it's a pleasure to see you, but might I inquire as to why you have come all the way from Sapporo?" Rangiku started to laugh at Rukia's unnatural formality but quickly masked it by a rather unconvincing cough. Byakuya's eyes fixed on her scathingly for a moment before returning to Rukia.

"I would like you to come back to Sapporo with me, Rukia." He said bluntly, eyes masked with his cold demeanor. Rukia's violet eyes snapped wide open. A little gasp emitted from her mouth; similar reactions came from the other three. Byakuya remained expressionless, his steady grey eyes trailed on Rukia's.

"I—Nii-sama, I can't. I have—I have my band! And—and Ichigo." Byakuya's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at the mention of the person whose name was unfamiliar.

"Ichigo?" He questioned quietly, sending shivers down Rukia's spine—his tone was nearly threatening.

"KurosakiIchigoismyboyfriend." She said the sentence as one word, blurring the statement together. Byakuya, however, was not hindered by the unclear answer.

"You may have your reasons for staying, but I also have my reasons for making you go." Rukia glanced unsurely at the others before looking back to her brother.

"What would those reasons be?" Rukia asked hesitantly. Something was off about the atmosphere—she sensed that something bad had happened. Byakuya was normally expressionless, but there was a look in his eyes had never been there before.

"You're parents have been found." Rukia's hand flew to her mouth; the words simply didn't register for her. Her parents had gone missing before she could understand what had happened. She had grown up with her brother and never gave a second thought to her mother and father—they were just shadows in her early life. Rukia knew that they had disappeared without a trace, but she'd never been expecting to have them found—she didn't even know that anyone had been looking for them.

"M-my _parents? _How?"

"I will explain it on the way. Pack clothes for a few months." Rukia was shell-shocked. The turn of events was stunning: first, Byakuya had showed up. Then, he'd said that Rukia's parents had been found, and now he was telling her to go on a trip to northern Japan for more than a month when she hadn't even agreed to anything.

"Nii-sama, I can't just up and leave. What will happen to my band if we just stop playing all of a sudden? We're actually starting to make ourselves known, but this will undo all of that progress." Rukia's voice wavered as her resolve did. Her band seemed more important than two people she had never known or loved, but they were her parents. How could she refuse to see them? Byakuya waited patiently while Rukia battled herself in her head. After a solid three minutes, she met Byakuya's stolid, grey eyes.

"What is your final decision, Rukia? I will not make you go if you do not wish to."

In a rough, small voice, Rukia said, "I'll go with you." Byakuya gave a barely imperceptible nod. Renji, Kira, and Rangiku collectively gasped.

"But Rukia—"

"Kira, stop. It's my decision to make." The blonde's eyebrows drew together in anger and surprise.

"Rukia, this is a decision for all of us to make. Doing this could destroy the band!" Rangiku nodded in assent of Kira's statement, but Renji was looking at Rukia. He understood Rukia's dilemma since he'd known her before she went to high school with the others in Tokyo. She had to go.

"Lay off, Kira. It's Rukia's decision and _only _Rukia's decision. If she wants to go, she should go. Rukia, do you need help packing?" Clearing her throat, Rukia shook her head and stood up. Byakuya copied her movements and handed her a folded sheet of paper.

"Here is your airplane ticket. Meet me at terminal three of Haneda Airport tomorrow at one in the afternoon. Make sure you pack accordingly." With that he was gone. No one quite knew what to say for a while after Byakuya had left.

_ Finally…_Ichigo thought with a wave of relief flooding over him. The screen in front of him read out his savings account, which had been steadily rising for the past three years. He could hear Masaki humming in the kitchen downstairs, cooking something delicious that sent a heavenly smell floating through the house.

He bolted out of his room down the stairs, taking the steps four at a time. Masaki looked up from the cutting board where she was speedily chopping something. "Mom!" Ichigo yelled in delight, throwing his arms around her like he had when he was little. She laughed and raised her eyebrows as Ichigo pulled away.

"Well, I'd say that you're more than excited. What's gotten you like this? You're grinning like you've just won the world." Ichigo, grinning just like Masaki had said and eyes shining, explained.

"Mom…I did it. I got the money. You're going to be healed. You can get the operation now." Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin, who were playing a card game at the table, looked up at the declaration. Masaki's mouth opened but no words came out and tears glittered at the edges of her eyes.

"Ichigo…" She pulled him into a tight, loving embrace. Soon the others had joined in so that it was one big group hug, tears falling and faces smiling.

"_Leaving?_ But how long will you be gone?" As soon as Ichigo had opened his door and seen Rukia, he knew that something was wrong. Her hair was disheveled and there were dark shadows under her un-made-up eyes. Rukia grimaced as Ichigo asked the question.

"I'm not sure. I mean, it is my parents. They disappeared when I was four. I'm could be in Sapporo for months." Rukia ran a hand distractedly through her hair and said, "God, this'll be the end of our band. If we just disappear, everyone will lose interest." She tugged harshly on one of her raven locks and bit her lip in aggravation. Ichigo rubbed her shoulder and scooted closer to her to her on the couch.

"Wow. This is, uh, something. I'm not gonna say that it's bad since you can finally see your parents, but this'll be a strain on your band. What did the other three say?"

"Kira and Rangiku are fuming. Renji—well, I'm not sure what he thinks. He's always supported me, but I think he isn't any happier than the other two about me going."

"Oh." The two sat in silence for a little while, staring off into space. After minutes, Ichigo suddenly jumped up as if he'd been shocked.

"I completely forgot! I'll be right back—I just need to get something." Ichigo ran down the short hall and disappeared into a room. Rukia, confused, stayed put on the couch. There was a clatter in the room Ichigo had disappeared into and then a muffled, "Goddamnit!" Rukia smiled and held back a laugh at Ichigo's relative clumsiness. After another minute of crashing and swearing, Ichigo reappeared with a few crumpled sheets of paper. With a blush, he handed the to Rukia.

On the papers were scribbled staffs with slanted notes. Ink splotches covered the margins and scrawled words crossed the page. "It's a song I wrote for you to sing. Since I play piano, I thought that maybe we could do a duet." Rukia smiled brilliantly at Ichigo—she was touched by the thought that Ichigo had put into the piece. She stood and gave him a crushing hug, which he returned. She put, without looking, the papers into her bag, careful not to bend or rip them.

"Ichigo, I'm not going to learn the piece until I'm away. That way I'll think of you when I'm singing it," Rukia said. She laughed awkwardly after a long pause. "That sounded kind of cheesy, didn't it?" Ichigo laughed at her words, but genuine delight showed through in his expression.

"I'll miss you," he murmured—his voice was sad, but it had a certain undertone of hopefulness. Rukia would be away, but she would be coming back before long.

Rukia's eyes widened as a wandering memory found its way to the front of her mind: a challenge that had been made between the two only weeks ago, which now seemed like an eon. "Ichigo. Before I leave, I want to do something that we promised to do a while ago. We have to race each other." She finished this thought with a devious smile. Ichigo returned the mischievous smile as the past conversation dawned on him. Putting aside all serious matters, he grabbed his keys from the table and led Rukia to the door.

"You're on."


	13. Epilogue

Happy laughter and the patter of little feet filled the home of Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia. An orange-haired girl of three ran through the halls and wound her way between chairs, leading her father in chase about the house. Rukia sat, smiling, with a baby of no more than two months held gently in her arms. Although young, the baby boy had a shock of thick, spiky black hair.

"Careful, Ichigo. Don't knock down the Christmas tree after I took so much time to decorate it," Rukia cautioned half seriously. Ichigo, paying no heed, wended his way through the rooms in pursuit of his speedy three-year-old daughter. Finally catching up to her, he swept her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. The girl giggled and squirmed in his arms.

"Daddy, don't do that!" She said between giggles.

Without any warning, the front door burst open and none other than Kurosaki Isshin stomped through, arms wide and smile set. In his left hand he held a bouquet of slightly wilted flowers. Following behind him was Kurosaki Masaki, her radiant smile outshining everything in the room.

"Where's my newest addition to the family?" Isshin boomed in his deep, cheerful voice. Ichigo rolled his eyes and let his daughter down. She ran to Isshin and yelled, "Granddaddy!" Masaki laughed happily and hugged both Ichigo and Rukia, greeting them warmly.

"Haruka! How wonderful to see you." Isshin beamed down at his eldest grandchild and began to walk, Haruka still latched to his leg, toward Rukia and the baby in her arms. Rukia smiled and held the baby out to Isshin as he dropped the flowers on the table.

"Careful, Isshin—Makoto isn't two months old yet. Don't drop him." All four laughed, and Isshin carefully took the baby in his arms, gazing down at his face lovingly. Masaki picked Haruka up from the floor and conversed with her. The moment was shattered when the door opened again.

In came the rest of the Kurosakis—Yuzu and Karin—along with a few other people. An old colleague of Ichigo's, Hitsugaya Toshiro, entered arm-in-arm with Karin. Behind Yuzu and the other two were Ichigo's and Rukia's closest friends: Renji, Rangiku, Kira, Orihime, Tatsuki, Chad, and Uryu.

Soon the place was alive with chatter; festive music played through the speakers, and the smell of divine food wafted throughout the house. Rukia and Masaki collaborated in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, stirring pots of stew, checking on the meat in the oven, and chatting cheerfully the entire time.

In the living room of the quaint house, everyone was reminiscing in their youths over their drinks.

"Remember our band?" Rukia said from the kitchen doorway. "We had some really good songs. It's too bad we decided to stop playing. I'd say that we still have a few years left in us to play." Everyone laughed at this; Renji, Rangiku, and Kira nodded somewhat wistfully.

"And the bar," Ichigo interjected. "Kisuke's bar. We all worked there for a good ten years. And you guys played there regularly for about that much time, too. I really miss the place." There were murmurs of agreement.

"But we still have each other," Rangiku said happily. "In a way, it's just like back then. We have our sake and we have our friends and family, so what's there to be sad about? To us!" The group clinked glasses and laughed merrily. More conversation passed between the group of friends as the night wore away. And, of course, there was plenty of sake to go around.


End file.
